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■UJJ

THE COPPER MINES

LAKE SUPERIOR

..^ .^

T. A. RICKARD

EDITOR.OF THE ENGINEERING AND MINING JOURNAL; ASSOCIATE
OF THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF MINES; MEMBER OF THE AMER-
ICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING ENGINEERS; MEMBER OF THE
INSTITUTION OF MINING AND METALLURGY; MEMBER
OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND. INSTITUTE OF MIN-
ING AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS; STATE GE-
OLOGIST OF COLORADO FROM 189S TO 1901;
AUTHOR OF 'THE STAMP-MILLING OF
GOLD ores; 'ACROSS THE SAN JUAN
MOUNTAINS' AND 'THE SAM-
PLING AND ESTIMATION OF
ORE IN A MINE."

-^♦►-

First Edition, First Thousand.

-4♦►

NEW YORK & LONDON

THE ENGINEERING & MINING JOURNAL

1905.

THE ENGINEERING AND MINING JOURNAL.

^'1

o
i

» • THIS LITTLE BOOK

DEDICATED

JOHN STANTON

IN CORDIAL APPRECIATION OF LIFE-LONG SERVICES,
WHICH HAVE BENEFITED NOT ONLY THE COP-
PER MINES OF THE UPPER PENIN-
SULA, BUT THE BEST INTER-
ESTS OF A WORLD-WIDE

-5:i INDUSTRY

■

191155

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Preface 7

I. Introductory 11

II. Geology 22

III. Early History 35

IV. Calumet & Hecla 42

V. Later History 50

VI. Copper Range Consolidated 55

VII. Mining MET^ODS. The Quincy 62

VIII. Atlantic and Wolverine Mines 72

IX. The Baltic. Mining Methods Reviewed 83

X. Mass Copper 98

XI. Exploration 108

XII. Milling Methods 117

XIII. Smelting Practice 142

XIV. The Men Who Did It 152

XV. A Last Glance ; . . . 160

PREFACE

Any good American, desirous of impressing an intelligent
visitor from another country, say, for example, Macaulay's
New Zealander, with the permanent and profitable char-
acter of the mining industry of the United States, would
be wise in choosing the copper country by the Great Lakes
in preference to any other of our splendid mineral regions.
Sixty years of productiveness represent history in our
unresting industrial growth; an annual yield of 200,000,000
pounds of refined copper is in itself impressive, for it
means 15 per cent of the total output of the world; mines
one mile in vertical depth appeal to the imagination; a sin-
gle stamp that crushes 700 tons of ore per diem has a thun-
derous way of proclaiming its importance; well-ordered
communities aggregating about 80,000 self-respecting
people indicate favorable conditions of living; and, when
the visitor is weary of the immensity of the operations
carried out by man on the Keweenaw Peninsula, he can
turn with deep restfulness to the splendor of earth and sky,
to the beauty of forest and wave, to the long promontories
dividing the surface of Lake Superior, and the blue line
of the Huron mountains.

As the traveler journeys from Buffalo to Houghton, and
thence to Duluth, on a steamer itself of dimensions that
challenge many Atlantic liners, he is stimulated by a
swiftly moving panorama of shores on which every kind
of industrial development is proceeding; he will encounter
the vast freightage which bears the produce of the north-
western wheatfields, the iron ores that are the material
foundation of modern civilization, the lumber from the
Michigan forests, and the copper on its way to the refineries
of New Jersey; this traffic being met by vessels heavily laden

8 PREFACE.

with coal^ merchandise, machinery and the immense sup-
plies consumed in the exploitation of natural resources of
great diversity. He will be on an internal waterway which
is 2,100 miles long from Duluth to the mouth of the St.
Lawrence, a continental line of communication the traffic
of which, as measured at the locks of the Sault Ste. Marie,
is more than double that of the Suez canal. And it is
impressive, not as measured by tonnage alone, but because
instead of the sand marshes of Suez, the barren mountains
of Sinai, and the blistering deserts of the Libyan coast, this
great commercial artery of North America separates, and
unites, two English-speaking nations whose multitudinous
energies are expressed in an uninterrupted succession of
mills and factories, docks and railroads, and a continuous
line of throbbing steamers that bear the commerce of a
continent down the long-linked series of lakes, canals and
rivers to the marts of the world.

It is this mining region which I have endeavored to
describe, by the aid of observations and information
secured during three weeks in the siunmer of 1904. For
much of my material I am indebted to the courtesy of mine
managers and engineers, whose names are mentioned, with
grateful acknowledgment, in the pages that follow.
During the whole of my stay at Houghton L received the
help, and frequently the stimulating companionship, of
Mr. F. W. McNair, president of the Michigan College of
Mines, and of Mr. L. S. Austin, professor of metallurgy in
that most efficient technical institution. To these two
friends I am under particular obligations.

One matter, to which I regret to refer, requires mention
in this account of the copper mines of Lake Superior; for,
unpretentious as my story is, 1 desire it to be an honest
portrayal of mining affairs in the Upper Peninsula during
the year 1904. Therefore, this explanation.

Those who read these pages will be surprised — and dis-
appointed — to find only scant reference to the two mines

PREFACE. 9

which have done most to give the- region a world-wide
celebrity; I refer to the Calumet & Hecla and Tamarack.
As a matter of fact, beyond the impressiveness of size and
the romance of a great production, the engineer is likely to
find the younger mines as rich in suggestion and interest, as
the two great properties referred to. Nevertheless, the fact
that they follow a conglomerate lode, while the other mines
— all, save the Franklin Junior — are founded upon beds of
amygdaloid, gives them a peculiar geologic interest, height-
ened by the analogy with the ^banket' of the Rand. Fur-
thermore, their workings have reached the depth of 5,000
ft., and they must therefore afford interesting data concern-
ing the obstacles to deep mining. These two matters of
interest I was unable to study and describe. Since the
object of the investigation made by me was simply to afford
data which might prove useful to professional men in other
districts and in other countries, and at the same time elicit
corresponding information for the use of my friends in
Michigan, I regret the refusal of admittance to these two
mines. As a mine manager of experience, I understand
that the indiscriminate admission underground of laymen
and tourists is a source of danger and entails a consumption
of time on the part of the staff such as the public does not
appreciate; but the closing of mines to properly accredited
mining men is a different matter. Do the directors of these
two companies appreciate that 99 per cent of the knowledge
upon which their highly successful operations are based, is
knowledge which was given gratuitously by other men
working other mines? Of the improvements introduced at
the Calumet & Hecla and the Tamarack during, say, the
last ten years, how much was a free gift coming from the
experience of mining engineers not in the employ of these
companies, but engaged elsewhere? Mine managers do
not get knowledge by spontaneous cerebration. However,
in making a protest against a practice which goes against all
the instincts of a generous profession, I do not criticise the

10 PREFACE.

gentlemen who are in charge of these two properties; on the
contrary, I acknowledge personal courtesies which it will
always be pleasant to remember, and I appreciate cordially
how humiUating it must be to them to be unable to afford
the f aciUties which will invariably be afforded to them when
they visit their professional friends in other parts of the
world.

T. A. RiCKARD.

New York, December 15, 1904.

THE COPPER MINES

LAKE SUPERIOR

I. — Introductory.

Fthe reader will take a map of North America and
look at the Great Lakes which separate the
United States from Canada, he will see a soli-
tary tongue of land projecting from the south
shore into the center of Lake Superior. ' That
is the Keweenaw peninsula, a part of the State
of Michigan, and the copper-mining region which
it is my purpose to describe. On a map of the United States
it will appear that Houghton is an inland town in the south-
central portion of the peninsula, and there will be but little
hint of the fact that it is situated on a waterway which
renders the northern half of the region, not a peninsula, but
an insula. The Portage lake and river, with the canal that
forms the western outlet to Lake Superior, are, in fact, only
links in that long line of water communication which
reaches from Duluth, through the Great Lakes, to the
mouth of the St. Lawrence, a total distance of 2,100 miles.
The wheatfields of Manitoba, the iron ores of Minnesota,
Wisconsin and Michigan, the copper of the Michigan mines
and the lumber of the forests, all reach an outlet along this
inland waterway, so that it is not surprising to find that the
locks at the Sault Ste. Marie register a tonnage which, for
the eight months of navigation, is more than double that
which passes through the Suez canal during an entire year.
In 1903 the traffic passing the Sault Ste. Marie amounted to

THE COPPER MINES

o
w

H
O

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

14 THE COPPER MINES

34,674,437 tons, on which freight charges amounting to
$26,727,735 were paid. Mineral products were as follows:
Iron ore, 21,654,898 tons; coal, 6,937,633 tons; copper,
112,877 tons, and salt, 454,822 barrels.

From New York, the traveler goes by train, 440 miles in
nine hours, to Buffalo, and there takes steamer. The
North Westj on which I traveled, is 386 ft. long, 44 ft. beam,
has a rating of 5,000 tons, with 8,000 h.p., and draws 17 ft.
of water. It is not many years since such a vessel would
have been considered a large craft, even on the Atlantic.
Comparison may be made with the White Star steamers on
the Pacific, which are 420 to 441 ft. long, 42 to 44 ft. wide,
with a rating of 4,205 to 4,676 tons.

From Buffalo to Houghton the distance is 811 miles,
which required a voyage of three nights and two days —
days of unclouded beauty, spent on quiet waters and
diversified by the swiftly moving panorama of a country
undergoing a variety of industrial development. On a
sunny morning in August the North West steamed up the
arm of Portage lake, here only half a mile wide, and drew
up at the wharf just below the drawbridge uniting the
towns of Houghton and Hancock, which lie at the foot of
two facing hillslopes of gentle demeanor. Beyond the
drawbridge the shimmering waters of Portage Arm disap-
peared around a wooded bend. The scene breathed a quiet
and orderly spirit ; there was none of the uncouth ruggedness
or the squalid unrest which one associates with mining activ-
ity; the air contrasted refreshingly with the sweltering tur-
moil of New York City; and, not till I recognized the shaft-
houses on Quincy hill, the smoke of the smelters at Han-
cock, the buzz of a lively saw-mill, and the cluster of red
buildings marking the College of Mines, did I realize that I
had indeed reached the port of entry to a mining region
famous throughout the four corners of the globe.

The larger number of productive copper mines are in the
northern part of the peninsula, in a series extending from

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

16 THE COPPER MINES

Hancock to Calumet, and a little beyond, making 15 miles
altogether; another important group of growing mines is
found south of Houghton, to a distance of 8 miles. Beyond
this continuous mining belt, there is the outlying district of
Eagle River along the northern edge of the peninsula, and
to the south there is the Ontonagon country. The accom-
panying map will make this clear.

The present population of this mining district is about
78,000, of whom 38,000 are distributed over the town of
Calumet and its adjoining suburbs of Laurium, Red Jacket,
Blue Jacket, Hubbell and Limerick. Besides the towns
mentioned, there are smaller settlements, mainly of work-
men's houses, near the Centennial, Wolverine, Mohawk and
other individual mines. Across Portage lake, on the South
Range, there is a village of about 3,000 people at Atlantic,
with smaller communities at Huron, Trimountain and
Painesdale. At Hancock there are 7,000 and at Houghton
only 4,000 inhabitants. Hancock and Houghton are
divided by the arm of Portage lake, but united by a draw-
bridge. Both are pretty, clean-looking communities, the
better residences being on College avenue, overlooking the
water and dominated by several fine buildings, among them
the East Houghton school and the imposing cluster which
marks the College of Mines. An excellent electric car
service unites the twin towns with Calumet, 12 miles
distant. This large settlement is more evidently a mining
community, because the big shaft-houses of the Tamarack
and Calumet & Hecla mines soar above the streets and
dominate the surrounding houses in a lordly way. Calumet
is a community of many nationalities; among the workmen
employed by the Calumet & Hecla mine, 38 nations are
represented. Hence the multiplicity of religions and the
corresponding diversity of 'thirst-parlors'; one might say
that there is a conglomeration of churches and an amyg-
daloid of saloons. When walking the streets, one overhears
many strange languages, from the homely Cornish dialect

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

03
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12;

I— 1

CO CO CO CO CO

d
'3d

3 Q,

?5[N(Ne<iciicococo

d«s'§'dd

^ d O O 2 3 S

t>^o6oso»-Je4co^

2 ^

® d lllf

o»OiHc4co"^»o«o

os.s^ ui«S d
-^ d*^ d P«d 9^

1-J c4 CO ^' »o «o t»* 00

18 THE COPPER MINES

to the foreign accents of Finland. There are signs and
names variously intelligible to the traveler, according to
the prevailing humidity, from Paiva Lehti to Soumalainen
Saloonki! Notwithstanding the extraordinary mixture of
races, disorderly scenes are rare and the police are con-
spicuously few in number, one reason probably being the
insular position of the district, exit from which is either
over the Houghton-Hancock bridge or by boat on the
surrounding waters.

While underground at the Baltic mine, on the South
Range, I saw a code of signals at the shaft-station, the
explanations being given in English, Finnish and Italian,
respectively. At the Wolverine the changing house is
arranged for various nationalities, the English taking one
end of a changing room and Italians the other; in a second
room the Austrians have one half, while the other is set
aside for Finns.

Of the numerous nationalities the Cornish are eminently
the best miners, and next to them come the Finns. In early
days the Irish were more nimierous than at present, and
they used to have frequent 'scraps' with the Cousin Jacks,
as the men from Cornwall are called. When the Swedes
and Finns began to come in, the Irish and Cornish tended
to draw together. The Finns are separated by a distinct
cleavage into "temperance Finns" and the "others"; the
latter are apt to be rampagious when under the influence.
The former make excellent citizens; they come from a
rigorous climate and an ungrateful soil, and they are now
cultivating the forest clearing with such marJced success as
to develop a profitable agriculture in this northern country.
They do not stick to mining long; from trammers they
graduate quickly to miners, and then, after about ten years
of continuous work, according to the amount of their
savings, they either take up a tract and clear the forest
from it, or buy a farm already made.

The miners are mainly Cornishmen and Finns; the tram-

OF LAKE SUPERIOR 19

mers are Finns, Italians and Austrians; the timber gang is
apt to have aCornishman as chief , with Austrians for helpers.
The latter are really Croatians, for the most part; they are
quiet, hard working and peaceable. The ItaUans are often
divided among themselves by feuds identified with the
localities of their origin (those who know Italy, are aware
of the antipathy between the people of separate provinces) ;
the consequence is that at the present time most of the
Italians in this district come from Piedmont; and, when
any miners arrive from other parts of Italy, they are
treated as 'outsiders,' getting so little help from their
compatriots that they usually depart to more hospitable
surroundings. The Finns are ambitious, stubborn and
thrifty; they are quite separate from the Norwegians and
Swedes; they work hard and are generally educated to the
point of a little reading and writing, which cannot be said
of all the other foreigners. But the Cornishmen hold their
own, beyond question; they are the most capable miners,
having a great eye for ore, and an hereditary instinct for
"reading the signs" underground. At the Atlantic mine,
where a low-grade ore has caused the contract system to
act' as a process of natural selection, the Cousin Jacks have
proved the most fit to survive amid keen competition, the
result of which is expressed by the fact that most of the
miners are Cornish, with a few Finns, the latter often
making up in muscle and persistence for lack of inherited
instinct. The Cornish hate shoveling, and prefer to do the
actual breaking of ground, and for this reason they are
better miners than laborers. Many good stories are told of
them: One day a superintendent, making his rounds,
called up to a couple of Cornishmen who had a hard con-
tract. He asked how things were going. ''How is it, boys?"
"Mighty 'ard, Cap'n; she's pretty tough." "Well, boys,
brace up; what you want is pride and perseverance to help
you." He went on. Behind him he heard the two miners:
"Say, Bill, who be they. Pride and Perseverance?" "I

20 THE COPPER MINES

doan't know, Tom — ^guess they be the two Fmns in the
next stope/'

Rarely is the laboring man better off than in this district.
Wages average from $2.30 to $2.50 per shift for miners, and
from $2 to $2.25 for trammers, contractors doing about 25
per cent better. Board is from $16 to $18 per month; the
rent of a four-room house is from $4 to $6 per month. The
companies build substantial dwellings, usually with stone
foundations, arranged in orderly rows, whose neatness and
regularity have not much of the picturesque, but bespeak far
healthier conditions than that mingling of the squalid and
romantic which characterizes other mining camps. At
Painesdale and at Calumet, two presidents of well-known
mining companies have given library buildings for the use
of workmen; and at Houghton, the College of Mines has a
reference library of worthy proportions. The necessities of
life are not high; the climate is healthy; good schools are
plentiful; hospitals are easily available; and, on the whole,
it is obvious that the miner in this region is better off than
the higher paid men who live amid the desolations of
Arizona and Nevada, or among the even more brutalizing
environments of such places as Butte City and Broken Hill.

The copper mines owe to Lake Superior more than
their geographical habitat. Their milling practice has been
modified profoundly by the unlimited supply of fresh water
available for the mills, which, requiring as they do about
3,500,000 gal. per stamp per day, would soon exhaust an
ordinary inland stream; the splendid forests that clothe the
surroimding coimtry have furnished the enormous supply
of timber required for the support of excavations under-
ground; and the tax upon even the resplendent woodlands
of Michigan can be appreciated when it is stated that the
Tamarack mine alone engulfs half a million feet, board
measure, of timber monthly. Beside wood and water, the
mines have been furnished a magnificent highway of
transport. An excellent bituminous coal comes from

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 21

Pittsburg, 150 miles by land to Cleveland, and thence by
water 736 miles, at a cost of $2.66 per ton; of which only 30
to 40 cents is the steamer freight, and 8 cents per ton the
cost of unloading.

The loading and unloading is done on a big scale; at
Cleveland, by the shore of Lalce Erie, I saw cars holding
50 tons of coal apiece emptied bodily, as if they were small
buckets, into a vessel, at the rate of 1,000 tons per hour;
and, while I was at Houghton, the Martin Midlen, a lake
steamer, brought a load of 7,200 tons of coal, and unloaded

the whole of it at the dock of the Copper Range Railroad
within two days. At other lake ports, possessing better
facilities, the unloading is done at the rate of 10,000 tons in
4J hours. These facts impressed me as I remembered the
coaling of a mail steamer at Port Said ; a long string of cool-
ies walking a gang plank, carrying coal in little willow bask-
ets on their heads, entering one hatchway, discharging their
burden and trotting down a neighboring gangway, singmg
monotonously all the time, with the result that the passen-
gers were given 8 to 10 hours of sooty unpleasantness while
a few hundred tons of coal were taken aboard.

II. — Geology.

The Keweenaw peninsula, as measured along its line of
departure from the mainland, is about 40 miles across, east
to west, and extends northeastward into Lake Superior for
about 70 miles. It is dominated by a central plateau rising
to 600 ft. above the lake level, the general structure being
that of a broad backbone of uptilted beds, largely of vol-
canic origin, flanked on both sides by sandstones, whose
eroded edges slope under glacial drift to the shore. At
Portage lake, where the peninsula is cut in two, the width
is less than twenty miles.

The backbone of this landspur is a wide belt of rocks
known as the Keweenaw series, comprising a succession of
lavas of extrusive origin with interbedded layers of sand-
stone and conglomerate. While the igneous members of the
series are composed of rocks differing in chemical and
physical constitution, they can be described briefly as
varieties of diabase,* considerably altered, with which are
associated rocks of greater acidity, from porphyrites to
quartz porphyries. The conglomerates are composed of
rounded fragments of these rocks, the more acid predom-
inating.

The Keweenaw series has a thickness of 25,000 to 30,000
ft.,^ and in adjacent regions the thickness is even greater.

^ 'Diabase' is the term employed by Irving, 'melaphyr' that used
by Pimipelly, and 'melaphyre' by the Michigan Geological Survey.
The State Survey, of late years, has tried to reserve the term 'dia-
base' for intrusive rocks, although some of the Keweenaw beds un-
doubtedly have the structure of diabiase. (See Vol. VI, Pt. I, pp.
169 and 220.) 'Melaphvre' as a rock name is now almost obsolete;
"it should be restricted fco an altered type and preferentially to
the older altered basalts. The melaphyres will then bear somewhat
the same relation to basalt that the diabases do to the dolerites, and
porphyrites to the andesites." (Geikie). In my descriptions I shall
use the tenn 'trap' as a general name for the dark igneous rocks of
the district, both diabase and'porphyrite.

^ Irving and Rominger. '

COPPER MINE.

i3 I

24 THE COPPER MINES

Their strike, within the mining district, is from north 26°
east to north 81° east, with a variable northwest dip,
becoming steeper southward. The accompanying diagram-
matic section will give an idea of the geological section
across the mining region anywhere between Houghton and
Calumet. On the east, sandstone beds abut unconformably
against the Keweenaw rocks; these sandstones dip slightly
to the southeast, and, by their fossils,^ are known to be the
equivalents of the Potsdam formation of New York, this
being the top of the Cambrian. The sandstones on the
opposite side of the peninsula, and overlying the Keweenaw
rocks in apparent conformity, were considered by Rominger
to be of identical age and as having been at one time con-
tinuous over the 'trap,' that is, the diabase layers of the
Keweenaw series.* Pumpelly and Irving thought that this
required too much erosion. Wads worth claimed that the
Keweenaw rocks are in places superposed over the eastern
sandstone. The matter is further complicated by a vertical
plane of demarkation along the contact of the trap series
and the eastern sandstone, it being an open question
whether this break in continuity is a gigantic fault or merely
the cliff marking an ancient shore Une. Pumpelly and
Brooks held that the eroded conformable downward
extension of the Keweenaw series would be found under the
eastern sandstone; while Irving and Chamberlain considered
that the east face of the Keweenaw series represented a
fault-scarp, the downthrown part of the series being under
these eastern sandstones. Hubbard holds to the existence
of "an eroded line of steeply dipping and somewhat corru-
gated traps, against whose mural faces and over whose
gentle slopes, respectively, the eastern sandstone was laid
down."*^

' Found only in the Menominee district.

* C. Rominger. 'Geological Survey of Michigan.' Vol. V, Pt. I,
p. 92.

s 'Geological Survev of Michigan/ Vol. VI, Pt. IT, pp. 88-91 and
p. 121.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 25

Native copper was first found in the transverse fissures
crossing the Keweenaw series at the northern end of the
peninsula; there the metal was found also to occur along
certain beds of conglomerate and amygdaloid inter-
sected by the vein-fissures. Eventually it was proved that
the copper occurred elsewhere, even more generously, in
certain members of the series, forming impregnations con-
formable to the stratification and identified with persistent
beds of amygdaloid and conglomerate. The diabase rocks
include beds the upper layers of which are amygdaloidal,
this structure representing the foamy surface of lava
streams. As the pores or amygdules become filled with
various minerals a compact rock results, and from a vesicular
lava there is produced an amygdaloidal diabase. These
pervious beds have become the place of ore deposition, and
by reason of similar favorable physical conditions, the con-
glomerate layers also have been enriched with copper in
certain localities so as to afford a basis for profitable mining.

The 'mineral range' of this region consists of a belt from
four to six miles wide, constituting the eastern portion of the
trappean series, the members of which vary in thickness'
from a few feet to more than 100 ft., the individual layers
being distinguishable, where they are not separated by
beds of conglomerate, by the amygdaloidal character of
their upper portion. The texture of the trap changes from
compact, at the bottom of an individual bed, to vesicular,
near the top.^ Dark green is the prevailing color, save where
mineralization has been accompanied by the oxidation of

* The 'Greenstone' is a particular bed over 1,000 ft. thick, which
may, however, consist of several beds. Van Hise thinks it may
have been intruded. . Lane considers it to be a series of flows that
followed each other in rapid succession. 'Geological Survey of
Michigan,; Vol. VI, Pt. II, p. 74.

■^ Occasionally the lower side also may be vesicular, which is quite
in accord with what is known concerning the flow of lava streams,
the bottom and top cooling rapidly by contact with the cold surface
and the cold air, respectively, while tKe interior retains its heat for a
long time. Similar conditions can be observed by watching the
dumping of a slag pot.

26 THE COPPER MINES

the iron. Labradorite, and a ferruginous chlorite allied to
delessite, are the essential constituents of these traps/ but
they owe many of their most notable characteristics to
metamorphism, in the course of which chlorite has been
formed from hornblende or augite, and epidote has filled
the amygdules.

Furthermore, these amygdules contain a great variety of
minerals, those now seen being chiefly secondary products
which have replaced the original occupant of the cavity.
Calcite, quartz, laumontite, prehnite, analcite and datolite
may be mentioned, beside the epidote and chlorite, and
finally there is that most important mineral of all — ^native
copper. This is found crystalline in its own form, but
frequently it has the shape of the amygdule which it fills,
or, more rarely, it has the form of some other mineral
which it has replaced. Both the amygdaloids and the con-
glomerates are heavily impregnated with epidote. Some
of the porous epidotic amygdaloid layers have had copper
deposited in them to such an extent as to produce large
hackly masses of metal weighing several tons.

The Quincy lode, for instance, is essentially a soft brown
and green amygdaloid forming the upper portion of a bed of
diabase; the richest part of the lode channel, toward the
hanging, represents the upper crust of a lava flow which was
vesicular when extruded and is now amygdaloidal through
the deposition of minerals, one of them being copper. The
overljdng bed is a dark, compact, fairly coarse diabase, the
dark-red color of which is due to the feldspar. The amyg-
daloid of the copper lode itself has a minutely crystalline
groundmass containing acicular plagioclase and granules of
magnetite, which has been oxidized to hematite.' The
copper is sometimes pseudomorphic after laumontite and is
also found enclosed within transparent scalenohedra of

^ 'The Paragenesis and Derivation of Copper and its Associates
on Lake Superior/ by Raphael Pumpelly. American Journal of
Science, Vol. II, No. 9, p. 793.

• R. Pumpelly and C. Rominger.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 27

calcite, the order of formation being laumontite, quartz,
copper, calcite and datolite.

The conglomerates frequently enclose seams of fine-
grained laminated sandstone, and in such beds an impreg-
nation of copper is not uncommon. As a rule, the pebbles
of the conglomerate beds consist mainly of chocolate-
colored f elsitic porphyrite, the fragments of diabase and its
amygdaloid being subordinate in amount. Finer silicious
grains of the same material fill the interstices and cement
the pebbles together; but this original binding material is
now largely replaced by secondary minerals, such as calcite
and epidote, together with chlorite and native copper.
The conglomerate bed constituting the lode channel of the
Calumet & Hecla is from 12 to 25 ft. thick, and dips north-
west at from 36° to 39°. For a length of two miles in this
mining property there are but few barren spots; and the
conglomerate is stoped continuously, save for pillars to
support shafts, the average yield of copper being about 2.5
per cent. The rock is reddish brown and so compact that it
breaks across the pebbles, which are the detritus of quartz
porphyry and granite; the spaces between pebbles are
filled with smaller granules bound together by a cement
which is both silicious and calcareous. The metallic copper
occupies the spaces between pebbles and often entirely
replaces the cement; it also penetrates the capillary frac-
tures in the pebbles and, indeed, the replacement has gone so
far that even pebbles are turned into copper, the result
being "a spongy skeleton of copper in an epidotic rock
carrying calcite."^** The hanging wall of this Calumet &
Hecla lode is a dark-colored, fine-grained diabase.

The position and appearance of the succession of diabase
beds indicate that they are extrusive sheets of lava; the
upper amygdaloidal layers have a surface which is often
scoriaceous and contains sand, indicating that their extru-

^^'C. Rominger. 'Geological Survey o^ Michigan/ Vol V, Pt. T,
p. 116.

28 THE COPPER MINES

sion was followed shortly afterward by sedimentation.
Likely enough they were extruded under water. It is this
sintery appearance which has provoked such local tenns as
"ash bed."

Movement of the Keweenaw series is manifested by
several small displacements in the mines which I visited;
but the most interesting evidence of this kind is the occur-
rence in the Central mine, where the so-called East vein is
faulted along the Kearsarge conglomerate, the heave being

AN AMYGDALOID LODE, QUINCY MINE.

284 ft.; a dislocation which, as measured in tenns of the
displacement of the rocks lying above the Kearsarge con-
glomerate, has been estimated as equivalent to a movement,
horizontally northward, of more than 2i miles."

The distribution of the copper, as observed in the mine
workings, is seen to be dependent upon the structure of the
rock. In the Quincy the "main hanging wall" is marked by
a slip or parting, of variable definition; back of this there is
a band of shaly trap, which is apt to become troublesome by
creating shaky ground. The lode itself is a brown amygda-
loid with earthy fracture, spotted with amygdules consisting

" L.L.Hubbard. 'GeologicalSurveyof Michigan,' Vol. VI, Pt. II,
pp. 88-91.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 29

of green chlorite, white calcite and red laumontite. Copper
occurs on quartz and pseudomorphic after laumontite.
Chlorite is found distributed over both quartz and copper,
penetrating the former. The calcite, which contains bright
native copper, often tends to arrangement in lines, giving
the lode occasionally a streaky appearance. The rock is
often vesicular, especially close to the 'hanging,' owing to
void cavities. Capt. Thos. Whittle informed me that the
lode is usually dry, but that moist places are richest.*^
This simply means that in such portions of the lode the
rock is less tight, possibly more vesicular, and permits
of the descent of water through the interstices. The
accompanying sketch (page 28) illustrates the general
structure of the Quincy bed.

At the Atlantic, the copper is fairly disseminated from
hanging to foot, that is, throughout the amygdaloid which
constitutes the lode. Occasionally the richer rock favors
one or the other wall, and rarely the copper spreads beyond
the hanging wall into the overlying trap. Cross-joints
produce 'floors' which make trouble in mining. It is found
advisable occasionally to leave a width of copper rock
rather than "leave the hanging bare." When the lode is
narrow it still carries about the same amount of copper per
linear foot, so that it is richer per ton than where it is wide;
when narrow, the ground is apt to be tight. On the foot-wall
there is a 'flint rock,' a close-grained jaspery amygdaloid,
but the bulk of the lode is a chocolate-colored rock, rich in
laumontite. The amygdules are little museums. In a single
amygdule one can distinguish the successive deposits of
laumontite, copper, chlorite, calcite and epidote. The
cavities now filled with these minerals appear to be long
vesicles due to the expansion of water vapor or gas. Near

^^ In one place in the mine where a considerable flow of water enters
through the foot-wall, metallic copper is now being deposited in
notable quantit)'^. And who can say but that a very slow precipita-
tion may not be going on where the rock is moist only in the lower
levels of this mine?

30 THE COPPER MINES

D shaft on the 31st level, I saw a cross-course, a band of
fracture extending across the lode and rendering it barren
for a length of 40 to 50 ft. This transverse vein carries
more calcite than the lode itself.

The distribution of copper in the Baltic mine is partic-
ularly irregular. The lode channel appears to be a sheared
zone with a system of fracturing which has reached beyond
the limits of the particular amygdaloidal layer, and into the
encasing trap. Movement is indicated by slip-planes and
cross-joints, especially a system dipping flatly southward.
Occasionally slips dipping toward each other tend to form
wedges of rock which make dangerous ground. Selvages
are observable. At No. 4 a vein 4 to 5 in. wide exhibits
this evidence of movement and crosses the lode channel for
a distance of 200 ft.; it carries copper, with quartz and
calcite. Most of the cross-veins, which are frequent, do
not extend beyond the lode limits, and they are short-lived
in any direction. Their strike usually conforms to that of
the main lode channel, but in one of the upper stopes I saw
a seam of chalcocite, in the foot-wall, dipping away from the
lode. This seam was f to 1 in. thick, enclosed within
quartz. Specimens showing deposition of chalcocite on
native copper also occur in this lode. In going through
idle workings which have been extended in rich ore,
one can see the metallic copper sticking out, though it
is tarnished black by the nitrous fume generated by the
explosives used in the mine. The superintendent will pass
his hand over the face of a working for the purpose of esti-
mating the percentage of copper, the projecting rough edge
of metal furnishing an index sufficient for an approxi-
mation of the average content.

In the Wolverine, wet ground is a good sign. Capt.
William Pollard stated that ''where there is water there is
copper somewhere around.' ' This confirms the experience
of the Quincy, the best-producing ground being where the
rock is vesicular, damp and inclined to be soft. The

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 31

so-called 'walls' of the Wolverine are at best but ill-defined
boundaries. A persistent soft seam separates the reddish
soft lode from the harder greenish-gray trap overlying.
Copper is found extending into both walls. I noted sheet
copper along cross-joints in the foot-wall; this is said to
occur in the hanging also. The rock nearest the hanging is
most amygdaloidal and is usually richest. In many places
the presence of lump copper can be seen at a distance by
reason of patches of light-colored decomposed rock. Nests
of metallic copper occur in this soft matrix. The laumontite
lines the amygdules and encloses calcite, while the copper is
found replacing both of them.

Joints and long slip-planes cross the lode at a strong
angle; these are apt to mark a change in the copper content.
If the rock is poor it becomes richer on the other side, or
vice versa: this, however, is only a local effect. Several
cross-courses are encountered. They consist of bands —
from a few inches to two feet wide — of barren shattered rock
streaked with seams of white calcite. They appear to disturb
the copper lode only sHghtly, not enough to affect mining
disadvantageously. Copper is rare in these cross-veins, and
then only close to the crossing. At the 25th level there was a
boulder in the hanging, which looked as if the trap had
flowed into a hollow in the surf ace of the amygdaloid, that
is, as if hot lava had been extruded over the cold vesicular
surface of an earlier flow.

It may be stated in a general way that the mineralization
of the amygdaloidal lodes is diffused and irregular; the
upper or hanging-wall limit to the profitable rock is occa-
sionally fairly clear, but the foot is not. In the early days
it was the great maxim of Capt. Daniell and other authori-
tative mine managers to ''keep to the hanging"; and the
custom was to run little drifts, which followed the course of
the hanging, no matter how the lode might turn and twist.
This is no longer the practice, for it is recognized that the
distribution of the metal disregards supposititious walls;

32 THE COPPER MINES

and, in order to extract it properly, a less narrow scheme of
exploration is required.

The conglomerate lodes are better defined, as will be illus-
trated by the Franklin Junior mine, which I visited under
the courteous guidance of Capt, John Doney, and Mr. F. W.
Sperr, professor of mining at the College of Mines. This
mine is on the Boston and Albany conglomerate, which is the
sanie as the Allouez conglomerate. At the 375-ft. level I
saw the section reproduced on this page. Under the outer

A CONGLOMERATE LODE, FRANKLIN, JR., MINE.

body of hard trap constituting the hanging-wall country,
there are 4 to 5 ft, of shattered trap; and between this and
the conglomerate there is atwut one foot of flucan. This
soft stuff varies in different parts of the mine from a mere
selvage to a thickness of four feet. The copper-bearing
conglomerate itself is from 8 to 25 ft. thick, narrowing
northward and widening southward. Underneath it there
are 3 to 4 ft. of sandstone, and below this comes the amyg-
daloidal trap of the main foot-wall country. The con-
glomerate breaks clean from the foot-wall sandstone; the
latter shatters in slips, which make bad ground. In order
to avoid the flucan in the hanging and decrease timbering

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 33

expense, it is the custom to leave 4 or 5 ft. of conglomerate
to support the ground, the value of the copper lost in this
way being less than the expenditure otherwise required for
extra timbering. As the successive levels are exhausted
and abandoned, this shell is removed. The fiucan is a
breccia-selvage, a clay containing broken pieces of trap.
Beyond it there are several feet of shaly ground which
looks like a volcanic dust that has been deposited in water
and subsequently consolidated. The lode is traversed by
well-marked joints and slips; they are as well defined as the
walls.

The reddish-brown feldspars of the porphyrite, consti-
tuting the principal detritus of which the conglomerate is
built, give it a chocolate tinge. The pebbles range from the
size of a pigeon's egg to that of a turkey; the largest
boulders are as large as a man's head. When the conglom-
erate is not too coarse, it is most favorable to copper, proba-
bly because the interstices between the larger boulders are
filled with fine sand, which renders such a rock less per-
meable to mineralizing solutions. In hard ground, that is,
where the conglomerate is so consolidated that it breaks
across the pebbles, these cross-joints are prominent and
make big, blocky ground. The best ore is in the looser con-
glomerate, where the fracture planes show projecting
pebbles instead of clean-cut surfaces. Here, as in the
amygdaloid lodes, the copper favors the permeable rock.
No copper is found in the foot-wall sandstone; in the deeper
levels, however, where the sandstone has thinned out, the
conditions change, and copper extends from the conglom-
erate of the lode into the underlying amygdaloid. Here
also there is an obvious connection with permeability, the
closely cemented sandstone offering a bar to diffused miner-
alization. The sandstone is a reddish, laminated rock; at
surface it crumbles quickly on weathering, on account of its
calcareous binding. Occasionally sandstone makes its
appearance within the conglomerate, and is found per-

34 COPPER MINES.

sisting for a couple of hundred feet, with a maximum
thickness of seven or eight inches. Fine particles of copper
are found in this sandstone, which differs in character from
that on the foot-wall. There are also nodules of copper
scattered through the flucan, and in the overlying trap a
little flaky copper is found. At the 18th level — about
1,850 ft. from surface as measured on the 48° dip — the con-
glomerate lode lies on the amygdaloid; the lattir has a
humpy, billowy surface, and the parting between it and the
conglom3rate is tight, that is, the two beds adhere.

III. — Early History.

In 1903 the copper mines of Lake Superior yielded
192,299,485 lb. of refined copper,*^ this being about 15 per
cent of the world's production; therefore no excuse is
needed for a sketch of the historic development of the
region. This account will be more readily understood in
the light of the geologic description which has already been
given. The geologic features of a mining country bear a
relation to its development similar to that of geographic
conditions in the history of the nations.

The first account of the occurrence of native copper near
Lake Superior is found in a work by Lagarde, published at
Paris in 1636. Reports by the Jesuit missionaries and early

voyageurs make mention of it, and in 1666 Claude Allouez "t v -^"^ -^'

gave details. These French Jesuits were the first white »1 V^ \^t^ >^^v>^

men in the region, and, according to their accounts, the i^^ <n ^^

Indians had been mining copper before the Europeans i'^'^ e "^"^C^
came. A century later, in 1763, a practical Englishman, ^^

Alexander Henry, who had come to North America soon
after the conquest of Canada by the British, passed through
the region; and in 1771 he began mining operations, but
with so little success that he desisted in 1774. In his
'Travels,' published in 1809, he mentions a mass of copper
which he found near the mouth of the Ontonagon river.
This is the mass now to be seen at the Smithsonian Insti-
tution.^*

Another period of silence supervened; for seventy years
there was no progress. The pioneer of the great mining
activity in the Lake Superior region was Douglass Hough-
ton, the first State geologist of Michigan, who was appointed
in 1837. At that time the salt springs of Wyandotte

^3 The production for 1904 was 206,800,000 pounds
^* See page 99 and frontispiece.

36 THE COPPER MINES

county (in the vicinity of Detroit) constituted the principal
mineral industry of the State. In the summer of 1839,
Houghton made extensive explorations; and in his fourth
annual report, submitted in February, 1841, he gave a
scientific description of the copper deposits. It is evident,
however, that at first he regarded the metallic condition of
the copper as an indication unfavorable to permanence,
and he held this view until he found ''that feature was
more or less universal with respect to all the veins.'' He
brought back four or five tons of copper to Detroit, for
analysis.

No mining operations were begun at this time, but
Houghton's reports had drawn attention to the region;
and, upon the cession of the land to the United States by
the Chippewas, on March 12, 1843, there followed a specu-
lative craze which lasted for three years. The lodes de-
scribed by Houghton, and those actually opened up in
1844 by Charles T. Jackson, who was the first to test their
value by mining, were the veins of the Eagle River dis-
trict, near Keweenaw Point. These carried both native
silver and native copper, not in the layers of conglomerate
and amygdaloid, which became the great producing lodes
of later years, but in transverse veins cutting across the
bedded series of rocks. Of these the Cliff was the principal ;
it was discovered in 1845, and was examined by Jackson
and also by Whitney, both of whom advised exploration
at the foot of the cliff, on the crest of which evidence of a
copper deposit had been found. An adit was started at the
base of this bluff; and at 70 ft. it cut a body of metallic
copper, the first 'mass' — as such occurrences are termed —
found by systematic mining in the Lake Superior region.
The discovery was important, because it indicated that the
erratic boulders of metal, previously found in the district,
had their origin in the lodes and not in foreign sources.

The Cliff mine exploited a fissure, which, in cutting
'across country,' intersected several amygdaloid beds, some

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

of which proved to be productive for a distance on either
side of the main vein; these were known as ^floors' and 18
of them were mined profitably. The mine, almost from
the start was remarkably rich in ^mass/ Between 1846
and 1853, the sales of copper netted $1,328,406, the divi-

MAP EXHIBITING THE POSITION OF THE PRINCIPAL MINES.

dends during that period aggregating $462,000. The depth
attained was 462 ft., and the range of development about
1,200 ft. In 1870 work was discontinued, owing to im-
poverishment at the bottom levels; up to this time the
mine had paid its stockholders $2,627,660 or a little over

38 THE COPPER MINES

2,000 per cent on the paid-up capital. In 1872 the mine
was reopened under a new organization, and the output
rose again, to 1,162,873 lb. copper in 1875; after that there
was a dwindling away, until production ceased entirely in
1887. This mine is now idle.

In 1854 the Central vein was discovered by John Slaw-
son, the agent of the Cliff, who stumbled upon an ancient
excavation in which a large mass of native copper was un-
covered. This was sent to Detroit to be smelted. In
1865 the production exceeded a million pounds of copper;
and the mines produced steadily until, in 1876, the output
reached 2,161,400 lb., and in 1886, 2,512,886. But in 1895,
at the 31st level, the vein was found to be cut off by a bed
of conglomerate; its faulted prolongation downward is sup-
posed to have been recognized, but it was barren of copper.

In the meanwhile, at the south end of this copper
country, the mines of Ontonagon were doing well. The
principal mines were the Minesota,^* National, and Mass.
The Minesota was discovered in 1847 by S. 0. Knapp, who
noted the surface indentations due to ancient workings. In
one of these, at a depth of 18 ft., he uncovered a mass of
native copper weighing six tons; this evidently had been
moved at some bygone period, for it lay five feet from the
lode and had been supported on timbers, rotted remnants
of which were found. The first shipment from this mine
was made in 1848, the year in which the first company was
organized. Dividends, aggregating SI, 920,000, were paid
up to the end of 1881. Nearly 70 per cent of the product
up to 1861 was in the form of 'mass,' and only 6 per cent
was 'stamp-rock.' The mill was a crude affair; and, when
the masses became scarce, the company had to shut down,
in 1870.

The National company opened up the location adjoining
the Minesota; and the two companies gave the Ontonagon

^^The name of this mine was Minesota, althousjh the State is
Minnesota.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

40 THE COPPER MINES

district a wide celebrity for twenty years, both by reason
of their production and through the fierce Utigation in which
they became involved. The National began work in 1848,
and for 23 years it maintained a steady output. Up to
1871 this mine produced 5,000 tons of copper, worth
$2,295,231. Operations were on a small scale, and the
pwners showed lack of enterprise. In 1871 the workings
Vere turned over to tributers, who gophered for a while,
before work ceased entirely. In 1881 the mine was un-
watered and fresh explorations were started, under the able
direction of Capt. E. W. Parnall, who afterwards became
so well known at the Tamarack. The nature of the pro-
duction in the early days is indicated by the fact that in
1864, 385 masses yielded 433,458 lb. copper; and in 1865,
318 masses yielded 516,244 pounds.

Prospectors early found their way southward from the
Eagle River mines to Portage lake. The riches of the dis-
trict, now known as Calumet, were unsuspected at that
period, and it was nearly twenty years before they were
discovered. The country around Portage lake was easily
accessible, and a settlement was formed in 1847.^' In that
year also the first of the bedded formations was uncovered,
and this discovery formed the basis for the organization, in
October, 1848, of the Quincy Mining Company; but the
early exploration of this part of the district was not promis-
ing, because it was directed largely to the fissures. For a
year the Quincy company fussed over one of these worth-
less cross-veins, before the discovery of a rich bedded lode
formation was made by the Pewabic, a company organized
byC. H. Palmer in 1848. The Portage district underwent no
serious exploration for several years, greater activity being
displayed in the Eagle River and Ontonagon districts. In
1852, however, the Isle Royale lode was found just behind
Houghton, and large quantities of native copper were ex-

' ** Graham Pope, Proceedings Lake Superior Mining Institute,
Vol. VII, pp. 18-31.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 41

tracted with a success that made this mine famous — and
with it, the locality. Adjoining tracts of land were quickly
taken up; and in 1853 the Huron Mining Company was or-
ganized at Boston, although the extension of the Isle Royale
lode was not actually found until the year after. At this
period Cornish miners began to arrive, attracted by reports
which had reached England, and their names begin to ap-
gear in the later records. In 1854 and 1855 mining matters
pround Portage lake looked gloomy; some of the mines,
like the Quincy, had not yet found the lodes which subse-
quently made them so productive, and they were struggling
along, exploiting the poorer layers of amygdaloid (which
are parallel to the rich lodes) and the thin cross-veins, as
already mentioned. In 1856 the Pewabic company found
the great amygdaloid lode known by that name; and the
neighboring mine, the Quincy, promptly followed suit, at a
time when hope and money were both at a low ebb. During
1856 the Quincy produced 13,462 lb. copper; but not until
1860 did the mine become profitable. In 1873 the yield
was 2,800,005 lb.; in 1883, 5,549,087 lb.; in 1903, it was
18,498,288 lb. refined copper. The Quincy has paid divi-
dends aggregating $14,620,000, upon a capital of $2,500,000.
The first copper mines in the. Lake Superior region, as
we have seen, were on the veins of the Eagle River district,
which cut across the bedding of the trap, amygdaloid, and
conglomerate constituting the prevaiUng formation. These
discoveries were closely followed by development of the
lodes of 'mass' copper in the Ontonagon district, at the south
end of the region, where the vems cut the bedded series at
an acute angle on the dip. Subsequently came the opening
up of rich copper deposits in the amygdaloid layers, such as
the great Quincy mine. Finally, the uncovering of a copper-
bearing conglomerate marked the birth of another momen-
tous development. Such was the discovery of the Calumet
lode by E. J. Hulbert, John Hulbert and Amos H. Scott, in
September, 1864.

IV. — Calumet & Hecla.

The recital of the events connected with the uncovering
of the Calumet & Hecla lode forms a story by itself. It
does credit to the persistence of the discoverer, Edwin J.
Hulbert, and to the shrewdness of his financial supporter,
Quincy A. Shaw; but it is marred by one of those not
infrequent misunderstandings between men of unlike tem-
perament, resulting in the familiar dispute as to whether
the man who finds, or the man who founds, a great mine
should be the chief beneficiary. Hulbert was a surveyor;
he had laid out roads, and mapped lands and mine workings,
for ten years before the discovery. He has related" how, in
1853, he lived in the Eagle River district and became a keen
student of mining geology under such veterans as W. H.
Stevens, Samuel W. Hill and Chas. Whittlesey. At that
period, mining for copper in the bedded series was not re-
cognized as promising profit, and all the work was concen-
trated upon the transverse veins of the district. In 1858
he began the survey of a State road from Copper Harbor to
Ontonagon, and in the course of his work he noted a violent
deflection of the magnetic needle on Section 23; this put
him on the alert for a mineral discovery later. While making
the northern portion of this survey, he found fragments of a
brecciated conglomerate containing copper, similar to
Afloat' encountered by him several years earlier on the banks
of Eagle river. The conglomerate differed from any other
in the district by being brecciated, and it was this fact that
started him on a long and persistent search.

In making a final survey for the road from the Cliff to
Portage lake, he picked up some fragments of this conglom-
erate, and shortly afterwards he discovered a big block of it,

"'Calumet Conglomerate, an Exploration and Discovery made
by Ed\\in J. Hurlbert, 1854 +o 1864/ Pamphlet, Ontonagon Minei
Press, 1893.

COPPER MINES. 43

covered with moss; also, not far away, he observed a depres-
sion which he took to be an ancient pit, similar to others
previously known elsewhere in the Keweenaw peninsula.
Upon examining the map, he found that this was on
government land; therefore, in February, 1860, he bought
a tract of 1,920 acres, so located as to cover the ground in
which he purposed to explore for the copper-bearing breccia-
conglomerate. In July, 1861, he deeded a three-quarter
interest in this land to J. W. Clark, Horatio Bigelow and
other Boston men. The civil war came, mining activity
languished and nothing was done until 1864, when this
tract became the basis for organizing the Hulbert Mining
Company, in which he was allotted 5,000 — out of 20,000 —
shares. Meanwhile, in June, 1859, Hulbert, Amos H. Scott
(who worked for him), and the old explorer, W. H. Stevens,
found the Allouez conglomerate. This led to the formation
of the Allouez Mining Company, with Horatio Bigelow as
secretary. But the work done during that winter sufficed
to prove the poverty of the lode. All subsequent attempts
to work this conglomerate have failed likewise; but now, 45
years later, the Allouez company appears destined at last
to become a successful mine by exploiting the Kearsarge
amygdaloid, which, on its dip, traverses this property
between the Wolverine and the Mohawk mines. A shaft is
being sunk to cut the lode at an estimated depth of 1,100
feet.^* That the Kearsarge amygdaloid was not discovered
then, is small wonder, for Hulbert and Scott tried to find
the extension of the Quincy amygdaloid, where it would
cross this tract east of the Allouez conglomerate; they failed,
because of the thickness of the soil and the swampy nature
of the ground.

After the Allouez enterprise failed, and the civil war
disorganized business, Hulbert himself remained away from

^® Recently a drill-hole from the shaft has proved the lode to be
steeper than supposed, so that the shaft will not cut it until a
depth of 1 ,400 ft. is attained.

44 THE COPPER MINES

the district^ partly owing to a severe illness, until, in 1862,
he returned to do survey work at the mines near Houghton.
In May, 1864, he became superintendent of the Huron mine.
In July, of that year, he re-visited the site of the conglom-
erate boulder in the forest, and found everything undis-
turbed. Having determined to search anew, and with more
system, for the long-sought copper lode, he wrote to Bigelow,
of the Hulbert Mining Company, to purchase more land.
This was done, the price being $35 per acre, for 200 acres.
Immediately thereafter he chose a point of attack (the site
afterward of the Calumet No. 4 shaft), and on September 17,
1864, his brother John and Amos H. Scott, working under
his direction, cut through the amygdaloid forming the
hanging wall, into the copper-bearing conglomerate.
Winter coming, work shortly ceased. A barrel of specimen
rock was sent to Boston on November 15, 1864. In the
advice of this shipment it was suggested that another
company be formed to take the land in Section 13, held by
the Hulbert company; and this was done, in December,
under the name of the Calumet Mining Company of Michi-
gan. This company was organized on a basis of 20,000
shares; in the same month the Hecla Mining Company was
also formed, with an equal capitalization. In the spring of
1865 he went to Boston and there met Quincy A. Shaw,
arranging with him a loan of $16,800, wherewith to buy
additional land; this was deeded to the Calumet company;
and he received 5,833 shares, making his holding 10,833
shares in the 20,000 shares for which the company was
organized.

Meanwhile, in 1865, exploration of the ancient pit (noted
long before by Hulbert as occurring near the discovery of
the conglomerate) had proved that it was not a prospect
hole nor a pit sunk on a copper lode, but an Indian hiding
place or 'cache' in which was found a mass of copper,
unaccompanied by tools of any sort, such as would suggest
former mining; but there were found birch-bark baskets

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

46 THE COPPER MINES

used for carrying copper, also pieces of Indian-tanned
deerskin, such as is employed for repairing moccasins, and
other articles, proving it to be no mine opening. Over 50
barrels of copper carbonate were taken out of this excava-
tion, this being the weathered remnant of copper which had
been secreted there by the former diggers. In February,
1866, the pit was cleaned out; and, on sinking through the
floor of it, the amygdaloid overlying the Calumet lode was
penetrated, and conglomerate exceedingly rich in copper
was encountered. The ^cache,' therefore, was close to the
lode, but not on it, being on the hanging wall side. Hulbert
at once sent word to Mr. Shaw to secure the refusal of
Section 23, covering the ground which it was obvious the
lode traversed in its strike southwestward. This section was
part of the territory belonging to the St. Mary's Canal
Mineral Land Company. The United States Government
had granted the State of Michigan 500,000 acres of mineral
land in the Upper Peninsula for disposal to the company
which should build the canal connecting the St. Mary's
river with the basin of Lake Superior. This grant became
the basis for the organization, in 1858, of the St. Mary's
Canal Mineral Land Company, which forthwith began the
sale of lands, and remains to this day a large proprietor of
mining territory, being also a half owner in the Champ on
mine, as will be related later in this account. Section 23
was bought from the Canal company for $60,000; and
Hulbert was allotted one-third of the 20,000 shares of the
Hecla Company, which acquired it, the remaining two-thirds
being held by Mr. Shaw and his brother. Thus Hulbert was
able to lay claim to having selected every acre of the mining
land held by the Calumet & Hecla.

The Calumet Mining Company was organized wi h a
capital of 20,000 shares, having a par value of one dollar.
Toward the close of 1865, the reports of the richness of the
lode became noised abroad ; and the stock rose by successive
jumps, until in July, 1866, it was quoted at $75 per share.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 47

An assessment of $5 was made to raise working capital; and
this assessment was followed by others, making a total, up
to that time, of $12.50 per share. The absence of mass
copper, and the supposed difficulty of treating the ore,
caused the shares tofallheavily,andmany of the local stock-
holders sold out — to their lifelong regret; indeed, before the

.A MAIN LEVEL IN THE CALUMET & HECLA MINE

profit-earning stage was reached, there was much financial
embarrassment, by which Hulbert suffered seriously.
What with assessments and loans, about 11,200,000 was
required before the mine became a profitable undertaking;
all the original owners in the Calumet & Hecia enterprise
being severely put to it to provide money todevelop the mine
until it earned profits. .Hulbert lost a large part of his

48 THE COPPER MINES

interest by having to exchange it for debt certificates of the
Huron mine, of which he was the manager. This embittered
him, naturally enough; there was a quarrel with Quincy
Shaw and the Boston directors; but about twenty years ago
a settlement was made with Hulbert, he receiving $300,000
in Calumet & Hecla stock, which was placed in trust. The
income from this supports him comfortably; Mr. Hulbert
is now living at Rome.

The Hecla paid its first dividend, of $5, in December,
1869; and the Calumet, in August, 1870. The two com-
panies were consolidated in May, 1871, the Portland and
Scott companies being included; the Calumet & Hecla was
then organized with a capital of $1,000,000, in 40,000 shares.
At that date the dividends of the united mines had already
amounted to $2,800,000. In 1874, 230,000 tons were
treated, at a cost of $7.40 per ton, yielding 4.28 per cent
copper; in 1875, 239,000 tons at a cost of $5.82, yielding
4.33 per cent.

In 1879 the capital stock was increased to $2,500,000, or
100,000 shares of $25 each, this being the limit allowed by
the laws of the State of Michigan. In 1881, eleven shafts
had been simk and an estate of 1,720 acres had been consol-
idated. The dividends that year amounted to $2,000,000.
It may be interesting to quote the list of the mines which
were paying dividends at that time, 23 years ago ; they were :

Dividends up to

In 1881. the end of 1881.

Atlantic '. $80,000 $260,000

Calumet & Hecla 2,000,000 21,350,000

Central 60,000 1,664,000

Osceola 225,000 385,000

Quincy 440,000 2,810,000

At the end of 1882 the Calumet & Hecla had taken copper

valued at $71,219,610, out of ground equivalent to 120

acres. In 1883 the average width of stope was reported^* as

8 ft., with a maximum of 20 ft., and an average yield of 4.5

^® Chas. Kirchhoff. The Engineering and Mining Journal , July 12 '
1884. •

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 49

per cent copper. The mine made most of its water between
the 14th and 18th levels, being so dry at the bottom, then at
3,000 feet, on the lode, that water had to be taken to the
drillers. The levels were 93 ft. apart on the dip, or 60 ft.
vertical. The company owned 13,335 ft. on the strike,
embracing practically all the known rich part of that par-
ticular conglomerate bed. It was recognized at that time,
as it is now, that the Calumet & Hecla is not representative
of the region, because it possesses a lode so rich that there is
no other mine to be compared with it, either in amount of
production or in extent of profit. The expenditures and
methods of this company would have killed any ordinary
mine; apparently, the management, in the past especially,
has had no need to aim at economy, and evidently it did not,
although it does now. The Calumet & Hecla has paid
dividends to date aggregating $86,350,000 on a capital of
$2,500,000, par value.

V. — Later History.

At the south end of the Calumet & Hecla, the lode is
worthless, except adjacent to the Hecla boundary; and to
the north, on the Schoolcraft addition, a company was
ruined in an effort to work that extension of the Calumet
lode. Here is the place to tell the story of the Osceola mine.

The Osceola Consolidated Mining Company was organ-
ized in 1873; it was based upon a consolidation of ground
owned by J. W. Clark and Wm. Stewart, respectively; the
stock was placed among a few subscribers by Horatio
Bigelow and Joseph W. Clark, of Boston. E.J. Hulbertwas
put in charge of operations, and a mine was opened near the
southern boundary of the Calumet & Hecla ground. These
facts caused the company to become well advertised, so that
the stock was eagerly taken on the understanding that the
discoverer of the Calumet & Hecla had found ''another con-
glomerate belt'' of similar richness. The Osceola at first
was supposed to be a lode different from the Calumet, its
discovery being based upon some erratic boulders of con-
glomerate rich in copper, found lying on the surface. But
the borings, and other exploratory work undertaken by the
new company, were unsuccessful; and, when it became
known that the Osceola was really working the extension of
the Calumet conglomerate, there was a great deal of disap-
pointment. The mine, opened on the Calumet & Hecla
lode, proved, however, to be fairly productive at first; but
the progress of development assured ultimate failure, for the
Osceola owned only a short end of the rich ore-bearing
ground of its great neighbor. In this emergency, it fortu-
nately happened that an amygdaloidal copper bed /was
found 800 ft. east of the conglomerate, and steps were t^ken
forthwith to test it. This exploration was begun in 1877,
and four shafts were sunk in the course of the next three
years. In 1877 the production was 2,774,777 lb. copper.

COPPER MINES. 51

and it rose steadily to 6,894,256 lb. in 1892. Up to date
this company has disbursed $4,439,600 in dividends, on a
capital of $2,500,000.

Next we cometothestoryof the Tamarack, one of the best
in the records of mining. In 1880 the Calumet & Hecla had

HEAD-FRAME. TAMARACK, No. j. SHAFT,

gone down 2,500 ft. on the lode; and it required only 1,000
ft. more to reach the boundary between this property and
the Tamarack, which adjoined to the west, that, is on the
dip side. The Tamarack enterprise was the 'deep level* of
the Calumet; and, while the idea of sinking a vertical shaft
2,250 ft. to intercept a lode dipping out of the ground owned
by an outcrop company, is now a common form of mining

52 THE COPPER MINES

enterprise at Johannesburg, it was a new and courageous
plan to adopt, twenty -four years ago, when Horatio
Bigelow, Joseph W. Clark and John Daniell started to carry
it out. Capt. John Daniell gave the reason for the faith that
was in him in words which are worthy of quotation: ^'The
Calumet & Hecla Company divides $2,500,000 among its
stockholders annually, and the very important improve-
ment of late years would absorb a further expenditure of
$500,000; for the machinery erected is of the most costly
character, while it seems large enough to reach any required
depth. The receipts, then, beyond running expenses,
would be, say, $3,000,000. The amount of rock treated in
the stamp-mills does not exceed 1,000 tons per day, say
370,000 tons yearly. Therefore, $9.30 is the profit obtained
per ton of rock.

"When it is understood that the Atlantic and the Franklin
mines earn less than $1 per ton on rock treated, the Osceola
less than $1.50, and the Quincy mine, in her most prosperous
year, less than $4 per ton, and then on about one-third the
quantity of rock, it will be seen that the effort to get a share
of these unusual (in copper) profits, is prompted by very
strong incentives."

The Tamarack property was organized with an estate of
1,280 acres. The first shaft was started in that corner of the
company's property which afforded the shortest vertical
distance to the lode. The work of sinking was begun in
February, 1881, and on June 20, 1885, the lode was struck.
During these 4^ years, the lowest rate of sinking was 42
ft. per month, and the highest 70 ft. The total depth was
2,270 ft.; the cost, all expenses included, amounted to $61
per foot. At 600 ft., the shaft cut the Allouez conglomer-
ate; at 2,100 ft., the Calumet & Hecla conglomerate; and at
2,700 ft., the Osceola amygdaloid. In 1885 the production
of copper was 181,669 lb.; and in 1886 it was 3,646,517 lb.,
increasing to 7,405,606 lb. in 1887, and 11,409,217 lb. in
1888. In that year, 1888, the first dividend, amounting to

OF LAKE SUPERIOR, 53

$640,000, was paid on a nominal capital of $1,000,000.
The capital was increased to $1,250,000 during the* spring of
1890, and to $1,500,000 in 1896. Up to date the dividends
distributed aggregate $8,580,000.

The Wolverine, before its present era of success, had been
opened up in a small way by local people, who operated one
stamp, treating 100 to 150 tons per day. But the enter-
prise ran in debt. There was also a conflict of title, two
patents having been issued to the same piece of land. Mr.
John Stanton, becoming favorably impressed with the busi-
ness, organized a company and pumped out the mine; but
he found that it had been well gophered by tributers. He
opened up new ground, and started crushing in September,
1891 ; but soon realized that the average yield was insuffi-
cient to give profits when working on a small scale. Crush-
ing ceased on April 1, 1892. Production having ceased, Mr.
Stanton again proceeded to open up the ground vigorously;
and after 13 months, a second start was made, in May, 1893,
with one stamp treating 250 tons per day. In 1897 another
stamp was leased at the Allouez mill. Since then progress
has been continuous, and the mine has proved increasingly
profitable. From 250 tons, the daily output has increased
steadily to 1,000 tons per diem; the property has been built
up gradually, the cost of more territory, new stamp-mill, and
equipment having been met out of earnings. The Wol-
verine has paid $1,770,000 in dividends on a nominal capital
of $1,000,000, of which $550,000 was paid in property and
$230,000 in cash.

The existing Atlantic Mining Company was formed in
December, 1872, by a consolidation (of a former company
of the same name, owning the South Pewabic mine) with
the Adams Mining Company, the joint capital being
$1,000,000 in 40,000 shares of $25 each. The old mine,
known as the South Pewabic, had been ruined by the lean-
ness of the lode. After exhausting its capital stock and
spending half a million beside, the company had gone into

54 COPPER MINES

bankruptcy, and the new Atlantic company was organized.
This new organization benefited by the work done by its
predecessor, which, failure as it was, had opened up the mine
so as to demonstrate the uniformity of the lode and deter-
mine its average yield; moreover, the South Pewabic com-
pany had built a stamp-mill by the lake and had paved the
way — with gold, rather than with copper — ^for its more
businesslike successor, by the accomplishment of a good deal
of the essential preliminary work. The Atlantic produced
863,366 lb. copper in 1873, and 1,372,406 lb. in the year
following, increasing its production steadily until, in 1888,
it reached 3,974,972 lb. In 1902 the 30-year charter ex-
pired, and was renewed for a further 30-year term, the
capital being increased concurrently from $1,000,000 to
$2,500,000. Early in its history this mine won a reputation
for cheap working, and it has long been recognized as
winning a profit from the poorest copper rock exploited
successfully by man. In 1902 the average yield was only
11.10 lb. refined copper per ton of ore stamped, this being
equivalent to 0.555 per cent, on a total output of 4,949,366
lb. refined copper. In 1903 the yield was 12.76 lb. per ton
on a yield of 5,505,598 lb. copper, from 431,397 tons of rock.
Total costs were $1,347 per ton, equivalent to 10.86 cents
per pound of copper, which during that year was worth 13.12
cents per pound. The lode is a bed 15 ft. wide, of compara-
tively soft amygdaloid, in which the native copper occurs
with such uniformity as to facilitate exploitation. The
conditions which have contributed to the splendid work done
at this mine, will be discussed in their proper place.

VI. — Copper Range Consolidated.

The Mineral Range railroad, connecting Houghton with
Hancock, was completed in 1873; while the Duluth, South
Shore & Atlantic reached Houghton in 1883. In 1885
Hancock and Houghton were connected by rail, over the
drawbridge.

Of recent mining enterprises in the Lake Superior copper
region, the most important is the Copper Range Consoli-
dated Copper Company. This organization came as the
indirect result of efforts, begun by Mr. C. A. Wright as long
as fifteen years ago, to bring about the construction of a
railroad which should traverse the copper belt south of
Houghton, and connect that town with the Chicago, Mil-
waukee & St. Paul railroad at Mass City, a distance of 41
miles. Owing to untoward circumstances, such as the panic
of 1893 and the Spanish- American war, the plan failed until^
in the summer of 1898,when, the imminent end of the war
stimulating the financial market, Mr. Wright conceived the
idea of combining the mineral lands controlled by the South
Shore Mining Company, others owned by Mr. S. L. Smith
and the Douglass estate, together with a large acreage
belonging to the St. Mary's Canal Mineral Land Company,
making in all a solid block of 11,500 acres. This plan was
subsequently modified; no lands of the Canal Company
were included. The first offer of assistance from that com-
pany was a subscription of $100,000 to the stock of the
railroad, but at the time of the Spanish war this offer w^as
withdrawn; and, after the war was over, the arrangement
was changed to a bonus of 2,240 acres of land for the com-
pletion of the road, which it was apparent would develop
the other large tracts of land owned by the Canal company
on the South Range.

Thus the organization of amining-and-development com-
pany was finally carried out as the principal motive for the

56 THE COPPER MINES

construction of a railroad, which should not only connect
with the main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
railroad, but should also serve as the chief artery of the
copper country from Mass City to Calumet. Among the
projectors of, and chief contributors to, the fulfilment of
the plan initiated by Mr. Wright, were Mr. W. A. Paine, of
the brokerage firm of Paine, Webber & Company, Boston,
and Mr. R. R. Goodell, the agent at Houghton of the Canal
company.

On January 20, 1899, the Copper Range Company was
organized, with a capital of $2,500,000 in $25 shares,^^ to
build the railroad and to acquire 7,500 acres of mineral land,
with the offer from the Canal company of 2,240 acres,
conditional upon the completion of the railroad. The last
spike was driven on December 27, in the same year, 1899,
and the bonus mentioned was duly paid. In May, Dr. L. L.
Hubbard, in charge of exploratory work, discovered a rich
copper lode on the new company's territory; and this led to
the combination of 600 acres of the Copper Range land,
with an equal acreage belonging to the Canal company, the
1,200 acres becoming the basis for the organization, in
October, of the Champion Copper Company. From the
very beginning this mine made a good showing.

The Champion and Baltic mines cover the same lode.
When the lode was discovered by Dr. Hubbard on the
Champion land, it had already been proved valuable by the
workings of the Baltic. The original openings extended for
nearly a mile, and they were of such promise that operations
on a large scale were planned with confidence. The lode
proved to be richer than any in the region, except the Calumet
& Hecla. In January, 1902, the Champion company leased
one of the Atlantic's stamps ; later in the year its own mill,
of three heads, was ready. These milling operations tested
the 120,485 tons of copper ore broken in the course of

ft 20 This is the usual capitalization of a Michigan mining company,
and is the maximum allowed bv the laws of the State.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

58 THE COPPER MINES

exploratory work. The yield was 4,165,784 lb. copper, or
an average of 34 lb. per ton. In 1903 the output was
398,082 tons, which yielded 16,438,184 lb. refined copper, an
average of 29.01 lb. per ton, the net earnings being $567,562,
out of which $300,000 was paid in dividends.

When organized, the Copper Range Company had
$1,000,000 set aside for railroad construction, and $250,000
for development of mineral lands. In 1901 a branch was
built to the mills on Lake Superior, and contracts were
closed, with the Trimountain, Champion and Adventure
mines, to transport their output and supplies. Other
railroad arrangements were made with the companies
owning the Atlantic and Baltic mines.

Mr. John Stanton took hold of the Baltic mine in 1897;
it had never previously been organized into a mining com-
pany, but desultory work had been carried out by Capt. John
Ryan, the father of John E. Ryan, who is now president
of the Amalgamated. A shaft, 60 to 70 ft. deep, had been
sunk by him, and a good copper lode was disclosed; but the
enterprise never developed to successful exploitation. At
the end of 1897, shortly after the organization of the new
company by Mr. Stanton, good developments were made
on a new lode; milling was begun in July, 1899, by the
leasing of an idle stamp in the Atlantic mill. In 1902 the
Baltic mill was completed; and of the four stamps, three
crushed rock from the Baltic, and the fourth, the output of
the Champion. In 1902 the Baltic company crushed
275,932 tons, producing 6,285,819 lb. copper, worth
$746,276, and making a profit of $182,762. In 1903 the
production increased to 10,580,997 lb. copper, worth
$1,421,211, and yielding a profit of $481,447.

In January, 1902, the Baltic mine was acquired by con-
solidation, the Copper Range Company being re-organized
as the Copper Range Consolidated Company, to acquire
the stock of the two companies. The new company, organized
under the laws of New Jersey, had a capital of $28,500,000

OF LAKE SUPERIOR

60 THE COPPER MINES

in 285,000 shares. In September, 1903, the capital stock
was increased to 385,000 shares of the par value of $38,500,-
000, in order to carry out the acquisition of the Trimountain
mine, which at that time was in debt to the extent of
$840,000; but this amount had been expended in legitimate
development and equipment, the benefit of which was to
appear later. The Trimountain company had fallen into
difficulty, by declaring dividends prematurely and so
becoming hopelessly crippled for further development.
After six months^ systematic work, the new company was
able to prove that the Trimountain was as rich as the
Baltic. The Trimountain, Champion and Baltic are all on
the same lode.

In 1903 arrangements were made with Mr. John Stanton,
representing the Wolverine, Mohawk and Atlantic mines,
to organize a company, to be called the Michigan Smelting
Company, sixt}'' per cent of the stock to be taken by the
Champion, Trimountain and Baltic companies. The
smelter w^as completed in June, 1904, at a total cost of
about $600,000.

The Copper Range Consolidated Copper Company there-
fore owns 50,000 shares, or one-half the Champion mine,
the railroad, the Baltic and Trimountain mines, six-tenths
of the Michigan smelter, 9,300 acres of mineral land west of
the Champion location, and a frontage of four miles of mill-
site on Lake Superior. During 1903 the combined output of
the various properties amounted to 30,382,446 lb. copper,
which brought $4,054,634.

The story of this important organization has been told at
some length, because it is characteristic of the enterprise
which has developed the whole region. Moreover, the
mining activities of the company are certain to gain in
importance as the present systematic plans come to fruition.
With a territory covering the main copper belt for 1.75
miles on its strike, and for 4 miles on the dip, this company
commands an area of workable copper-bearing ground

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 61

which can fairly be said to have been only tested by opera-
tions up to date. With its railroad, mills and smelter, it is
a self-contained enterprise of great magnitude. From my
own visits to the Baltic and Champion mines, as well as to
the mUls and the smelter, I gained the impression of skilful,
substantial work, carried out under the direction of men of
the highest reputation. I must confess that until I went

to Houghton, my ideas of the Copper Range were asso-
ciated chiefly with the pyrotechnics of Mr. Thomas W.
Lawson; and it was only by personal contact with men and
things on the ground, that the impression of flamboyant
finance was gradually displaced by a keen appreciation of a
mining business, the magnitude and substantial character
of which it required many days of observation to rightly
understand.

VII. — Mining Methods. The Quincy.

Every mining region has local terms requiring definition,
if they are to be understood by those living elsewhere.
Underground in the Lake Superior copper mines, two
products are recognized; the valuable output known as
'copper-rock,' and the refuse or 'waste.' The big masses of
native metal are known briefly as 'mass' ; the smaller pieces
constitute 'barrel work,' because usually loaded into barrels;
and, finally, there is the run-of-mine, or 'stamp-rock.'
Particles of metal, ranging from slime to nuggets, which are
extracted by milling, are collectively termed 'mineral';
according to their purity, they are graded in three, four, or
five numbers, ranging in percentage of copper from 25 up to
72. The 'mass' and 'barrel work' will average 95 per cent
copper.

Mining methods in the Upper Peninsula exhibit note-
worthy differences; and, as these variations in underground
practice are based upon diversity of conditions, they are as
creditable to the technical men who apply them, as they
are instructive to the observer from foreign parts. Before
venturing to comment or to criticise, it will be well to de-
scribe the manner in which the work of actual mining is
performed, in four typical instances.

One of the largest, best known and most representative
mines in the Lake Superior district is the Quincy, whose
tall rock-houses overlook the waterway that serves as the
main highway of transport. The Quincy has seen great
changes in mining methods; it is only eight years since the
miners went to work underground on a 'man engine'; but
that ancient abomination is now a dishonored memory, and
the old inclines, "crooked as a ram's horn," have been
replaced by straight shafts and winding engines of modern
design. Capt. Samuel B. Harris, the former manager, and
his son, Mr. John L. Harris, the present superintendent,

COPPER MINES. 63

have made a great many changes, by way of straightening
the working shafts, putting in double skip-roads, and
systematizing operations generally. It certainly was high
time to do something of the kind, for the shafts, as could be
seen on the maps, were getting into a tangle. The two new
shafts, known as No. 6 and 7, are at right angles to the
strike of the lode, but the older openings were quite uncer-
tain in their bearings; so that while the distance between
shafts No. 2 and 6 is 1,928 ft. at the surface, they are only
1,581 ft. apart at the 53d level; in the same way No. 4 and
7 are only 860 ft. apart at the surface, but are separated
by 1,254 ft. at the 53d level, which corresponds to a vertical
depth of 3,480 feet.

The scale of operation tends constantly to increase; thus,
while the skips in the old shafts held only two tons of ore
and were hoisted at the rate of 500 ft. per minute, now, in the
new shafts, skips carrying eight tons are brought to daylight
at a speed of 3,000 ft. per minute, with a maximum of
3,500 ft. The reader will appreciate better what this means
when told that the most rapid passenger elevators in the
tallest buildings in New York — such as the Park Row
building — ^travel at a speed of only 400 ft. per minute; and
even at this rate of descent or ascent our country friend
finds his heart in his mouth.

The shafts are 6 by 19 ft. in the clear, and the two skips
work in balance — ^that is, one of them goes to the bottom, as
the other comes to the surface. There is no pump, the mine
making so little water that it can all be hoisted in tanks.
The No. 2, 6 and 7 shafts are equipped to handle 1,400 tons
each in 16 hours of actual hoisting, the remaining time
(exclusive of intervals between shifts) being devoted to the
lowering of men, tools and supplies.

The Quincy mine has 61 levels, reaching to a depth of
exactly one mile, that is, 5,280 ft. on the dip, or 4,008 ft.
vertical. The lode dips 55° at surface, and flattens to 37° in
the bottom workings. No. 7 shaft starts at 54° 30', holds

64 THE COPPER MINES

this for a distance of 1,040 ft., and then curves 15' for 740
ft.; there is a 22' curve for the next 1,000 ft., and a 30'
curve for 675 ft.; then a 45' curve for 563 ft., so that at the
58th level this shaft is sloping at 37° and is approximately
parallel to the lode, though a few feet underneath it. By
carrying the shaft in the foot-wall — about 10 ft. underneath
— ^it becomes safe to stope the lode in its entirety.

The skip weighs 5 tons and carries 8 tons of rock. It is
provided with 4.5 in. by 4.5 in. angle-irons one-half inch
thick, two at each end of the skip; these are 3 ft. 4 in. long,
and extend below the bottom of the skip, so as to serve as
guides by passing in contact with the wooden runners which
carry the rails. No instance of a skip * 'jumping the track"
is known ; quite recently a falling piece of rock struck a car
wheel and bent the axle, but the car (or skip) was held
between the rails and slid down the shaft, without injury to
the track or to anyone near it. Rails weighing 50 lb. per
yard are laid in the shaft, while 35-lb. rails are used in the
levels. The tramcars used underground carry 3 tons each,
and are hauled in trains of three or four by an electric loco-
motive of 15 h. p., weighing 5,500 lb. All construction is
heavy and substantial. In the well-equipped machine and
blacksmith shops at the mine, the company makes its own
skips, cars and machine-drills. In the blacksmith shop there
is a machine for shaping and sharpening the drills. A blank
steel bar is instantly forged into a drill ready for work by a
pneumatic hammer dropping upon it while being pushed
over a die.

A practice recently started in the Quincy mine is to use
a cross bit (sometimes known as a 'rose bit'), for starting a
hole, drilling to, say, 3 ft. deep, and then to employ the
plain chisel bit in finishing the hole, to the 10 or 12 ft. of
total depth. When ready for use, the drills are bunched in
lots of a dozen, and are held tightly together by a wrought-
iron ring which is kept in place by wooden wedges, on the
faces of which the number of the level and the number of

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OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

the contract are marked. This arrangement is preferable
to the usual rope sling.

Most of the actual mining is done by contract, there
being four men (two on each shift) to each contract. The
two shifts of 10 hours each are separated by intervals of

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THE QUINCY SKIP.

two hours, which are utilized for getting rid of smoke due
to blasting and for ventilating the workings generally.

To prevent over-winding, there is a safety catch, which
applies the brakes automatically, unless they are released by
the engineer, as soon as the skip arrives within 150 ft. of the
surface. When the skip is dumped, the contents fall upon
a grizzly, made of fixed cast-iron bars capped by a remov-
able angle-iron, the spaces being 2.5 in. wide. The biggest
of the oversize is pushed handily into a low two-wheeled

66 THE COPPER MINES

truck, and is then trundled to the rock-breaker; this is an
expeditious way of moving the big pieces of rock, and is
an advance on the usual manner of pulling them across the
floor. The smaller pieces are thrown direct into the
crushers. As the grizzlies are laid at a low angle, some of
the small stuff rests on the bars; this is hooked to the front
and then shoveled into the small crushers. There are
three of these in each 'rock-house/ as the shaft-houses are
termed. The Blake type of rock-breaker prevails, the
biggest with 18 by 24 in. jaws, and the two smaller each
13 by 20 inches. The unwieldy pieces of mass copper go to a
drop-hammer weighing 1.5 tons and having a drop of 20 ft.,
so that the crushing impact is equivalent to 60 foot-tons.
Here the rock attached to copper is broken off, the larger
fragments going to the crushers, while the remaining metal
is lowered into cars for shipment direct to the smelter.
Smaller chunks of copper, say, up to the size of a man's hat,
are placed under a steam hammer; in each rock-house there
is one, the function of which is to loosen the encasing rock
so that the copper is rendered clean enough to go forthwith
to the smelter.

Methods underground are worthy of detailed description,
because they represent a practice which has been evolved
from experience. The average stoping width is 8 ft. —
ranging from 3 to 20 ft. Shafts are sunk in the foot-wall,
and cross-cuts at each station connect them to the main
levels. The nature of the hanging wall varies in different
parts of the mine. The copper-bearing rock in places is
separated from the overlying main plane of lode-fracture,
by a narrow band of shaly formation, which is apt to
cause trouble; in such places the main drifts are driven well
under the hanging, so as to leave a portion of copper rock to
support the ground and thereby avoid exposing the shale
band, which 'blisters off' or scales, not so much by reason
of weathering, as on account of strains brought about by the
pressure of the overljdng rock-mass, following upon the

OF LAKE SUPERIOR 67

excavation of the extensive upper workings. There are
plenty of joints or cross-fractures in the lode; these make
the ground heavy in places, but they also facilitate stoping.
No cross-veins or feeders of decided character are observ-
able, except a 'spar vein'; this is a vein of calcite, from 3 to
15 ft. wide, which cuts across the lode without dislocating
it materially. Mr. John L. Harris, the superintendent, to
whom I am indebted for many courtesies, states that dis-
placements in the lode are less frequent the deeper the level,
and that several dislocations encountered in the shallow
workings — ^that is, down to 3,000 ft. on the incline — ^have
gradually dwindled to the point of disappearance.

The main difficulty underground arises from the flat dip
of the lode. At an angle of 37*^, broken rock will not descend
freely. Waste rock is built up into walls, which reach from
the foot-wall to the hanging, and, in these 'pack walls,'
openings are left for the chutes or passes, at intervals of 40
to 50 ft. When the lode is broken by a blast, only the big
pieces roll down; the remainder is pulled and hooked down
until it lands on a platform or 'soUar' on the foot-wall side
of the level, whence it is shoveled into the cars. At each
chute or 'mill-hole' the trolley line of the electric tram is
protected by a piece of timber, which prevents flying pieces
of rock from cutting the wire.

At each station there is an arrangement for the loading
of the skip, which merits attention. It is an intelligent
device for overcoming the low inclination of the shaft. A
winze or 'pocket' is cut in the hanging wall, either in the
lode, or in the overlying trap, according to local conditions
at the successive levels. This pocket has an inclination
which is never less than 40°, and is frequently nearly verti-
cal, so as to allow of a free descent of the broken lode-
stuff. Any one of such pockets will hold 500 tons; it will
reach down to the next station and terminate close to the
shaft, where there is a chute and apron, the latter having
a sheet-iron spout, which is lowered when the skip is being

THE COPPER MINES

ARRANGEMENT FOR- LOADING SKIP.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

ARRANGEMENT FOR LOADING SKIP

70 THE COPPER MINES

loaded. In one instance, at the No. 2 shaft, the same
pocket or winze connects three levels, it being so arranged
that dumping is practicable at both of the upper two levels
— ^that is, tramcars can be discharged at the 55th level or the
56th, so as to reach the skip at the 57th level.

The loading of the skip to its full capacity is faciUtated
by the tilting device, shown on the opposite page. About
10 ft. below the floor of the station, a portion of the runner,
on which rails are secured, is notched out, so as to receive
a device made of semi-steel, as shown in the drawing.
This device is equipped with a tongue — about 2.5 ft. long
— ^faced with steel, which takes the place of the rail, and
is hinged so that it can be raised by a lever placed at the
station. When these tongues are raised, the skip is lowered
until its hind wheels drop into the tilting device. Here the
skip is firmly held, tilted at an angle of 50®, until loaded
from the chute, which is charged from the level above. It
is then hoisted, and the tongues (which have rested on the
hind wheels) drop back in place automatically, leaving the
rails continuous, as before.

OF LAKE SUPEKIOB.

VIII. — ^Atlantic and Wolverine Mines.

The Atlantic mine has achieved an enviable reputation
by reason of holding the record in the profitable exploitation
of low-grade copper ore. The average output during the last
three years has been successively 11.4, 11.095 and 12.76 lb.
of refined copper per ton, this being equivalent to 0.57,
0.555 and 0.638 per cent, respectively. It will be interest-
ing to note the conditions and methods which have enabled
Mr. Frank McM. Stanton, the manager, and Capt. John
Stratton, the mine captain, to attain these remarkable
results.

All mining is done by contract. Each contract is usually
let to four miners for a block of ground, 90 to 95 ft. long,
and reaching nearly up to the next level. The actual
height of the stopes will depend upon the nature of the
ground — ^that is, whether or not, for instance, the hanging
is heavy, it being customary to leave a floor or arch 12 to
15 ft. thick to support the level overhead, so that the stopes
are 70 to 73 ft. in height, as measured from the track of the
lower level, each 'lift' being 85 ft. on the lode.

The full size of the lode is broken, 'from trap to trap,'
or from foot to hanging wall; the width ranging from 13 to
17 ft., with a steady average of 15 ft. The miners are paid
for 15 ft. and must take the full width, whether less or more,
as directed by the shift-bosses. It used to be the practice
to pay by the cubic fathom; but, owing to the temptation
to get an extra width by blasting into poor rock wherever
the lode was narrow, it was f oimd more satisfactory to as-
sume 15 as the unit of width, and to multiply this into the
height and length when measuring up, before settling with
the contractors; but this rule is interpreted fairly by the
mine captain, so that no injustice is done to the men in
those instances where a width greater than 15 ft. of copper
ore is actually broken.

COPPER MINES. 73

Main drifts are run 8 ft. high and usually the width of
the lode. As the driving forms, almost invariably, a part
of the whole contract, the width of the drift is left to the
judgment of the men, who either break the full size of the
ore as they progress, or make a drift 8 ft. wide and 6 ft.
high. When the specified distance — ^90 to 95 ft. — ^has been
advanced, the men come back and extend the ' cutting-out
stope' (or, as they express it, "put in the timber ground")
to a height of from 16 to 18 ft. above the track. Stulls are
put in place, and lagging is laid over them. Then regular
stoping commences, and is continued until the contract has
been carried out and the ground squared, measured and
paid for. Thereupon another stretch of drift is started, and
the succession of operations is repeated, as before.

It takes about two months to advance a drift 90 feet —
remember that it is carried the full width of the lode — and
it requires about three months more to finish the cutting-out
stope. Timbering is done by company men as the stopes
advance. Stulls over the level are four feet apart, and the
lagging is so placed that it can be pulled out between any
two timbers whenever it becomes necessary to make a pass
for the rock broken overhead. This runs down to a platform
or 'soUar,' made of three or four boards laid level with the
track, and from this platform the ore is shoveled into the
cars. There are no chutes or timbered mill-holes. It is
appreciated that the use of them means great wear and
tear of timber, so the broken rock is allowed to run down
along the foot-wall of the stope, which dips at about 54*^,
the stulls being arranged in line so as to break the descent
as little as possible. The ore broken in the drift is
trammed out, but that which comes from the cutting-out
stope is left for the miners to stand upon while making the
next cut; then this material also is removed pending tim-
bering. When this work is done, and stoping is resumed,
the broken lodestuff is allowed to accumulate so as to rest
upon the stulls, until the top of the stope — say, 70 ft. above

74 THE COPPER MINES

the track — ^has been attained; then the lodestuflf is drawn
away through holes, made by removing the lagging between
the stulls at the level.

The lode dips at 54°, and therefore allows a free descent
of the rock by gravity; but it is too wide to permit rigging
up of the drill on the foot-wall. Scarcely any sorting is
done, but as the ore is loaded into the cars underground,
an occasional piece of clean trap is picked out; this only
amounts to one car in 40 or 50, that is, 2 to 2.5 per cent.
At surface some sorting is done in the rock-house, but this
also is insignificant, only one car per shift — ^that is, one in
200 or 220, equivalent to less than 0.5 per cent. This, of
course, is an important factor in keeping costs low. In the
rock-house one man handles from 90 to 95 tons per shift;
there is but little time lost, in picking out pieces of lump
copper, as compared to richer mines, for only about 5 bar-
rels, containing 3 tons in all, of metallic copper, are picked
out of the total output in the course of an entire month,
during which period 36,900 tons of copper ore are hoisted.

Contractors pay for candles, fuse, caps, powder and steel,
as consumed. The usual price for stoping is $7.50 to $8.50
per fathom cube, with a fixed width of 15 ft. Drifts — 6 ft.
high and 8 ft. wide — are worth $6.50 to $8.50 per running
foot; but this method of measurement is only adopted
when no stoping is included in the contract. In drifts the
drill-holes average from 5 to 6 ft. deep, and in stopes 7
to 8 ft. When stoping, 5 holes per shift of 10 hours is
considered fair work, this representing the breaking of
about 75 to 80 cubic fathoms per month. In drifts, 6 to 7
holes per shift is pretty good; this, at the rate of 40 to 45 ft.
per month, the full width of the hole, is equivalent to 16
to 20 cubic fathoms. Twelve cubic feet of rock in place
represent one ton.

Timbers vary from 16 to 30 in. diam., averaging about
two feet. Two men make the round of the workings to drill
'block holes,' so as to break up masses of rock too big for

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OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
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76 THE COPPER MINES

handling. The removal of waste is also faciUtated by the
design of the cars, an important factor in the attainment
of low costs. As the accompanying drawing will illustrate,
the cars are 8 ft. long, 2 ft. high, and 28 in. wide, inside.
Each requires two men, and carries 1.7 tons. The bottom
of the car stands only 8 in. above the track, so that shoveling
is easy; both ends are open, and the wheel-base is so pro-
portioned to the overhang that the car can be tipped
easily at either end, and the sloping surface of the bottom
can readily be utilized as a skid for sliding heavy rocks into
the body of the car. The trammers pile up the big pieces at
each end so as to make a rough sort of retaining wall, and
then shovel the small stuff inside. It used to be the prac-
tice to fill a closed car from a platform or sollar 28 in. above
the track, as is done in the majority of metal mines; but
since most of the ore "breaks big," the trammers cannot
control the large pieces without great loss of time and the
smashing of the cars by the ill-regulated descent of awkward
chimks. Two car-loads fill a skip; the latter rests on the
track while being charged, but it is kept in place by a gate,
a heavy wooden framework hinged to a cross-timber along
the hanging wall of the shaft, and lowered into place under
the skip by means of a f-in. wire rope, running over a block
operated by a lever at the station.

The output of the mine ranges from 1,300 to 1,400 tons
of stamp-rock per 24 hours, while sinking of one shaft is
going on. This production is due to the labors of 338 men
underground, aided by 37 machine drills. The distribution
includes: ^

148 men on the drills; 2 men per drill per shift.

156 trammers, timbermen and helpers.

5 shift-bosses and 2 trammer-bosses.

^ men driUing block holes and 2 repairing skip way, etc.

6 timbermen and 6 helpers.

The care of the shaft, skipway, pumps and actual sinking
of one shaft is included. Two boys sprinkle the shaft-

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

78 THE COPPER MINES

timbers and the drift-timbers with water for a distance of
50 ft. each way from the shafts, in order to prevent 'dry rot/
a fungoid growth which destroys the timber wherever there
is either not enough water to keep it wet or where the air is
too dry. Formerly the timbers between the 9th and 12th
levels used to decay in a year or 18 months; now, by reason
of the sprinkling, they last for five or six years.

The low working cost at the Atlantic is due to the com-
parative uniformity of the lode, bringing sorting down to a
minimimi; it is also due to the continuity and length of the
orebody. This is indicated, better than in words, by the
accompanying longitudinal section of the mine. Mine
managers in other regions will appreciate the eloquent
testimony afforded by the stope-map of the Atlantic.
Furthermore, the copper rock is a comparatively soft amyg-
daloid, easy to drill in the mine, and easy to stamp in the
mill. The width — 15 ft. — ^is conducive to expeditious
stoping, and the dip— 54^— faciUtates transfer from the
stope to the car. Beyond these favorable factors, and
equal in importance to any of them, is one which is to be
credited not to nature but to man, and that is sound busi-
ness management, counting the cents no less than the
dollars, and directing operations with an excellence of
judgment worthy of the best traditions of the mining in-
dustry.

The Wolverine mine is one of the most successful enter-
prises in the Lake copper district, and for this reason the
methods employed underground invite investigation. In
general, the system in vogue resembles that which we have
seen at the Atlantic, with modifications due to greater
richness of lode, a greater width of stoping, and a flatter dip.

When opening a new level, a stope-drif t is let on contract,
a breast 25 ft. high being carried forward at the full width
of the lode, about 12 ft. If stoping is not included in the
contract, the drift is made 6 ft. high and 6 ft. wide, the price
averaging $5.50 per running foot. Stoping is paid for at an

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 79

average price of $8.50 per cubic fathom of 216 cu. ft.; in the
case of a stope-drif t the miners receive $5.50 for the size of a
drift, the remainder of the excavation being paid for on a
stoping basis.

The lode is remarkably regular in width, and, as a matter
of fact, there are no stopes less than 12 ft., except in one
place on the West vein; on the other hand, the maximum
rarely reaches 20 ft. It has been found, by actual com-
putation from the area of ground excavated and from the
tonnage received at the mill, that the average width of rock
extracted throughout the mine is 12 ft. I must explain this
matter carefully because it is an important factor in the
contract system, in the application of which there is an
assumed unit of width — ^which is this 12 ft. The men are
paid by the cubic fathom, but in every case the unit of
width is the same, even though the stopes should exhibit
local divergence from this average. An example will make
this clear: If the ground broken by four men measures 20 ft.
long by 19 ft. high, then the width is put down as 12 ft.,
making 4,560 cu. ft., which, divided by 216, is equivalent to
21.1 cubic fathoms, or, at $8 per fathom, $168.80. In
every contract the width is put down at 12. This practi-
cally amounts to payment by square fathom for the full
size of a uniform width of lode; and on this basis the price
would be twice as much per square fathom as it is now per
cubic fathom, the v idth being 12 ft. in both cases. In the
above example 20 multiplied by 19 would equal 380 sq. ft.,
which, divided by 36, would give 10.55 square fathoms;
and this at $16 per fathom would make the same total,
namely, $168.80. This curious practice is described in
detail because it puzzled me a good deal; and it affords an
example of empirici m without theory, or, to put it kindlier,
of method developed from experience, and adapted to par-
ticular conditions.

In order to meet extreme variations from the assumed
uniformity, fair treatment of the miners is required, and

80 THE COPPER MINES

they receive it at the hands of experienced 'captains.' This
is as true at the Wolverine as at the Atlantic. If the lode
is unusually wide, say, 18 or 20 ft., and the men have fallen
short of earning an average wage, the captain "turns in a
fathom or two," so as to make it right.

To return to the actual mining: When the drift has been
extended to the boundary or to the end of the orebody, a
'stope and raise' is started to reach the level overhead so as
to establish ventilation, and make a point of departure
from which the stopes are extended backward toward the
nearest shaft. The 'stope and raise' is let for a length of
75 ft.; and when it is finished, regular stoping or 'lift and
stope' is given out in blocks of 60 to 80 ft. long, this being
about the amount of ground covered by a party of four men
working for a period of three months. 'Stope and raise' is
worth $7 to $8 per fathom; once in a while the men are
allowed as much as $9 per fm. in unusually hard ground,
but no contract has ever been let at that figure, the extra
amount being a special concession made simply as a matter
of fair deaUng. Plain stoping averages $7 per fm. Con-
tracts are given to four men with one drill, two men per
shift. If only two men are in the contract, the price is
$6.50, because they work on day shift only. The men are
paid individually, the subdivision of the total amount
earned being done by the company. This prevents sub-
contracting. Part payment is made every month, but the
final settlement is not effected until the contract is finished
and the ground squared; the men then get the balance due
them. The sinking of shafts is also done on contract, at an
average of $16 per ft., for a shaft 8 ft. by 17 ft. in the clear.
The contractors pay for all supplies and steel. A deduction
of $4 per month is made for steel consumed; the drills are
weighed at intervals of three months. If two men only are
joined in a contract, they pay $2 per month for their steel.
This is for wastage. If any drills are lost, the men pay at the
rate of 25 cents per pound.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 81

There is no timbering whatever to be seen either in
stopes or drifts. The lode dips at an angle of 40°, and the
ground stands splendidly. Even the shafts are not Uned,
the only timbers being the dividing posts between the
skipway and the ladders.. The rock does not 'blister' or
scale off. A staging of plank on light spreaders is the only
wood to be seen in the stopes. When the width removed is
unusually great, a stull or two is employed to hold up the
broken rock so that the men can rig up their drill in order to
reach the hanging; but this is uncommon. Usually the dip
and the width of the lode jointly afford conditions permit-
ting the drill to be set up on the foot-wall. This matter of
dip is important in several ways; while by being rather flat
it facilitates the preparation for drilling, it is, on the other
hand, not too flat to prevent the descent of the broken rock.
The latter runs fairly well, despite the uneven surface of the
foot-wall. Big pieces of rock roll automatically, and it is
only the fine stuff that has to be scraped down, which is
done whenever a stope is cleaned up on its exhaustion.
There are no timbered chutes or 'mill-holes'; as Capt.
William Pollard said to me: "The men just put down a
board or two, and make a sollar at the level." From this
extemporized platform the trammers shovel the ore into
the cars. The latter resemble those at the Atlantic; they
are 7 ft. long, 2 ft. 6 in. wide, and 2 ft. 2 in. high, with 12-in.
wheels and a 22-in. wheel-base, so that they swing around
easily. The track is of 3-ft. gauge and the bottom of the
car is only 8 in. above it.

The back of the car is closed, but the front is open; the
latter has an overhang of 3 ft. 4 in., and when big rocks are
handled the front of the car is depressed, so that the bottom
of it can be used as a skid. The larger pieces are placed at
the front end, making a rough wall, while the smaller stuff
is thrown behind. The overhang is less in front than behind,
but this is adjusted by the lesser weight at the back of the
car. There are three men to each car; one man picks out

82 COPPER MINES.

occasional pieces of waste while the other two are loading.
As soon as two carloads of waste have been accumulated —
making one skip-load — ^they are sent to the surface. The
waste from cross-cuts and other barren exploratory work-
ings is dumped into old stopes and is not hoisted.

The lode is a comparatively soft amygdaloid, and does not
contain much lump copper; what there is of it is picked out
at the rock-house, in amounts varying from 10 to 20 tons per
month. At the mill another 10 or 15 tons is sorted out
before the ore goes under the stamp. Last year a total of
328,000 tons of ore was hoisted and only 14,000 tons of
waste was picked out, this being equivalent to about 4 per
cent only of the full width of lode stoped in the mine. The
output for the year ending June 30, 1904, averaged 29.61 lb.
refined copper per ton of ore, equivalent to 1.48 per cent.
The costs, including construction, amounted to $635,185.18,
equal to 6.869c. per lb. refined copper; the profit was
$557,240.34; consequently the profit was in the proportion
of 87.72 per cent. Those who are familiar with copper min-
ing will appreciate the unusually favorable character of the
conditions prevailing in the Wolverine mine; if the lode had
a dip of 1® more it would be as perfect a proposition as a
miner could desire; if the dip w^ere 5° more, stulls would be
required for the miners to stand upon; and if 5° less, it
would be too flat for the free descent of the broken ore.
So it is evident that the conditions are nearly ideal.

IX. — ^The Baltic. Mining Methods Reviewed.

The main feature of underground work in the Baltic mine
is the substitution of rock-walls in place of timbering.
Formerly the Atlantic method was employed; long stuUs
were laid across the top of the drifts, and the drillers rigged
their machines on the broken rock until the block of ground
had been stoped away to the next level or near it; the lode-
stuff was sent straight to the mill, the porportion of waste
picked out in the rock-house being about 20 per cent.
There was no sorting whatever underground. Such
methods might answer with a lode of regular width and
fairly uniform mineralization, but the copper-bearing
channel of the Baltic is distinctly irregular. In mining, it
was the custom to extend the stope upward on the dip, and
of the same width as the showing at the level; in conse-
quence, bulges of copper ore were often missed; the rock
broken within the narrow limits of this method had all to be
sent to the mills, just as it came, and it was therefore low
grade.

All this has been changed during the last four years, in
accordance with the progressive spirit of Mr. John Stanton,
the president, a man to whom the mining industry of the
Keweenaw peninsula owes an obligation which the people
of the district are always glad to acknowledge. He has been
well supported by his son, Mr. Frank McM. Stanton, who is
agent of the Baltic mine. The management of this enter-
prise has brought the experience of the iron regioris to bear
upon the problem outlined above, introducing modifica-
tions suited to the local conditions. I am indebted to Mr.
F. W. Denton, the superintendent, for assistance in obtain-
ing a clear understanding of the underground work and for
many other courtesies.

Levels are not extended as narrow drifts; on the con-
trary, each drift is really a drift-stope 8 ft. high and the full

84 THE COPPER MINES

size of the lode-channel, no matter how wide it may be; the
minimum being 10 ft. and from that to a maximum of 60 ft.
The average width of lode-matter sent to the mill is, by
approximate computation, 25 ft.; the stopes themselves are
slightly wider. When the drift-stope is two or three
hundred feet long, work is stopped; all the copper rock is
trammed out of the drift along a temporary track, only the
larger pieces of waste remaining. Next, a cutting-out
stope is started near the shaft, leaving a pillar 25 ft. long.
A slice of 7 or 8 ft. is taken out for a length of 100 ft., the
position of the permanent car-track is chosen, and large
pieces of waste are placed alongside, so as to form the
beginning of a wall. As further material is broken down,
the larger fragments of waste are put to one side for wall-
building, and the small stuiBf is thrown behind them. Then
dry walls, 8 ft. high, are built up; they are four feet thick at
the base, and taper to two or three feet at the top, that is,
8 ft. above the floor of the level. Eight feet of clear space
is left between the walls for the main working level. At
intervals of 60 ft., openings are left for chutes. The next
operation is to bring in the 'wall-pieces,' timbers 14 ft long,
not less than 14 in. and not more than 20 in. at the small
end. Then lengths of hemlock plank, 2 in. thick, are laid
along the outer edge of the walls (that is, on the side nearest
the level), and the 'wall-pieces' are lifted upon the top of
these so as to stretch across the level at intervals of 5 ft.,
center to center. These timbers are lagged over, and the
chutes are built with apron and lip, as shown in the accom-
panying photograph. A piece of steel plate is spiked to the
chute and guides the ore to the lip, the latter being hinged
so that it can be raised or lowered by a lever consisting of a
hard-wood pole about 16 ft. long.

All is now ready for stoping. The first stope is blasted
with particular care, so as not to knock out any of the
wall-pieces. As the lode is broken down in the course of
stoping, the rock accumulates in the wake of the machine

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

86 THE COPPER MINES

drill, forming piles 15 or 20 ft. high. The pickers follow
close behind and throw the copper ore into the chutes,
and the waste into the fill. Small steel cars, holding about
one ton, are provided for the use of the pickers in the
stopes when, for any reason, the chutes are not directly
accessible. Such cars are used not only for convejdng the
copper ore to the chutes, but also for spreading the waste;
they are made to run on a broad-gauge track, and have a
swinging box to permit side-dumping. This work of
handling the broken rock in the stopes is being constantly
modified. The tendency now is to put the chutes further
apart, and to use the small stope-cars more. When the
stope gets near the next level overhead, which has been
already worked out, it is caved. If the waste picked out
is not sufficient for filling the stope, filling material is blasted
from the walls, or raises are put in, and old filling is run
down from above. Of course, it would be advisable to
begin stoping at the boundary and work backward, caving
the ground in retreat; but it is claimed that it takes too
long to open up the mine in this way, and that there would be
no place for the big pieces of waste broken in the drift-stope.
Formerly it was the custom in this mine to use a large
amount of timber in the form of cribbing to line the mill-
holes, with a view to keeping them open as they are
carried upward through the filling; although this practice
did not involve anything like the amount of timber re-
quired by ordinary methods, nevertheless a great deal of
material was thus used. Mr. Denton employs standard rail-
road ties for lining that portion of the mill-hole near the
outlet, with round cribbing higher up. But even better
than this, is a more recent modification, now in course of
trial, whereby all cribbing is discarded; the milT-holes
themselves being built entirely of rock, and circular in
shape. As far as I could s^e the rock is hard enough for
the purpose, the wear appeared to be slight, and the idea
ought to prove practicable.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR

88 THE COPPER MINES

The obvious advantage of this system of 'pack walls' and
rock-ribbed mill-holes is the small amount of material re-
quired to be brought into the mine; in this respect the fill-
ing system as used in the Baltic resembles the caving method
of the iron regions; and both of them are in strong
contrast to the elaborate timbering-methods of most pre-
cious-metal mines. Not only is there a minimum of timber,
boards, spikes, and such supplies as are brought into the
mine, but there is also scarcely any waste sent out, so that
the shaft is kept free for hoisting copper ore, which, after
all, is the main purpose for which the shaft is sunk. Little
waste is picked out in the rock-house; only 6 to 7 per cent
of the material hoisted was refuse at the time of my visit,
and this came from shafts then in course of sinking. From
the stopes, no waste whatever is taken; from the drifts, 1 to
2 per cent only. Apart, however, from the manifest ad-
vantages just emphasized, there is another feature — even
more important — ^in that the ore can be extracted more
completely, the full width of the lode being explored as
stoping proceeds, and the floor-pillars, where rich, extracted
by caving. Certainly there is some copper left in the refuse ;
that is granted, but as against this loss is the copper left
untouched in those mines in which the stopes hug the ' walls '
and where extraction is confined to a uniform width of a
supposedly regular lode. In going through the workings
of the Baltic, one can see that the lode bulges and narrows
at frequent intervals; it is apparent that the copper ex-
tends outward from the axial line of the lode with an
irregularity that disregards all attempts to make boimdaries
by fixing attention upon any persistent planes of fracture.

The lode has a dip of 70° and permits of the full aid of
gravity. Cars carry from 2.35 to 2.5 tons each, the lower
figure being treated as a minimum. Two men load a car
and push it to the shaft. Electric traction is not con-
sidered practicable, by reason of the variable tonnage from
any one part of the mine. The ore is trammed direct into

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 89

the skips, from cross-cuts in the foot-wall that unite the
shaft with the levels, the car being dumped while held in a
cradle of simple construction.

Work is done mainly by day^s pay, the irregularity of
the lode interfering with the adoption of the contract sys-
tem, except for shaft-sinking and some drifting. Miners
average $60 per month — 26 shifts of 10 hours — or $2.33
per shift. Trammers average $54 per month, or $2.08 per
shift. Board is about $18 per month. As a result of
method and management, the working costs are low: in
1902, $1,822 per ton of ore stamped; in 1903, $1,607 per
ton. This includes all operating expenses on the spot and
taxes; it excludes smelting, and marketing of the copper,
and New York office expenses, all of which together would
come to about 1.3 cents per lb. of refined copper. Meas-
ured in this way, the working cost was 7.96c. in 1902, and
7.5c. in 1903; add 1.3c. and you have the total cost per lb.
of refined copper. The rock stamped yielded 22.84 lb.
refined copper per ton in 1902, and 21.58 lb. in 1903.

The total cost, to be compared with timbering as con-
ducted in other mines, amounted, respectively to 8.67 and
7.97c. per ton during the two years quoted. Details are:

Cost per ton of rock stamped.

Description. 1902. 1903

Cents, Cents,

Timbermen : 6. 4.1

Stope filling, extra waste blasted especially

for this purpose Not segregated. 0. 35

Wall buQding 1.4 1.62

Timber, inclusive of shafts and levels 1 . 27 1 .90

Total 8.67 7.97

It is difiicult to separate trammers from pickers, because
the former are expected to pick out waste whenever possi-
ble. The labor of tramming cost 21.5c. and 17.4c. re-
spectively during 1902 and 1903, while picking labor
amounted to 11.5 and 13.8, respectively. Further figures
of interest follow; they are arranged with reference to com-

90 THE COPPER MINES

paring them with similar costs under different systems of

mining elsewhere :

1902. 1903.

Cents, Cents,

Mining, including miners and explosives only 43 . 20 35 . 80

Tramming Labor, picking labor, timbering

labor and supplies 41 .67 39. 17

Rock-house 9.85 9.08

Hoisting 10.70 5.70

Compressor and air drills (labor, fuel and sup-

J)lies, repairing machines and sharpening) . 9 . 80 6 . 70

ace expense 3.30 1 . 10

Greneral expense 5 .90 4 . 50

All other expenses at the mine ^^ 10.00 8.20

Milling and transportation to mill 38 . 59 43 . 70

Taxes 9.30 6.80

Total costs per ton, being the nmning ex-
pense at the mine $1.8231 $1.6075

Tons stamped 275,175 490,237

The foregoing descriptions of the mining methods em-
ployed in the Quincy, Atlantic, Wolverine and Baltic mines
afford a good idea of current practice in the Lake Superior
copper region. It is true that data covering the methods
used in the Calumet & Hecla and Tamarack, would render
my account much more complete; but, owing to the fact
that the companies operating these two big mines refuse
admittance to visiting engineers, there was no opportunity
for extending my observations to the deepest workings in
the district. However, by courtesy of Mr. W. E. Pamall,
the superintendent of the Tamarack, I am enabled to add a
drawing illustrating the manner in which Tamarack No. 2
shaft is being re-timbered. (See page 92.) The original set
of timbers is supported by a new outer set, which can take
the pressure of the ground without twisting the timbers of
the working shaft. There is a 10-in. space between the two
sets, a bearer from every fourth outer set serving to support
the inside timbering. The end-pieces of the outer set are
anchored into the enclosing rock. The timbering of the

^^ Made up of captains' and shift-bosses' salaries, track-laying,
pumping, lighting underground, and various supplies not include
m other items.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 91

outer set is under the inner, so that the former can become
deformed without interfering with the protection given to
the working shaft. Occasional 'studdles' are placed op-
posite the dividing pieces. A thickness of rock equal to
three feet was removed all around the old shaft, in order to
permit of this re-timbering, this excavation being equiva^
lent to the rock removed in sinking the old shaft. No. 2
shaft is 4,320 ft. deep. Until the end of 1903, No. 5 shaft,
with a depth of 4,938 ft., was the most profound metal-
mine opening in the world; but the resumption of sinking
in No. 3 has carried that shaft to a depth — ^up to date — of
5,027 ft. The Red Jacket shaft of the Calumet & Hecla is
4,890 ft. in vertical depth; it cut the lode at the 51st
level, and is used only for working ground below the 57th
level. The levels are 60 ft. apart, vertically, on a lode
with a 38° dip; but stations are cut only for every three
Ufts, or 180 ft. apart. The product of the stopes is lowered
in cars, which travel along an incUne connecting three
levels; the loaded car stands upon a platform which de-
scends, and in its descent pulls up the empty car. On the
level, the cars are trammed to the vertical shaft, and dis-
charge into a pocket which holds just the amount — ^three
cars — ^required for a skip-load.

Reverting to the general methods of mining, it can be
said that the Atlantic lode is of unusual regularity, both as
regards width and metal content; the copper appears to be
fairly well confined within recognized boundaries; it is
disseminated more uniformly than usual, and there is no
mass copper to hinder — ^while enriching — ^the rapid extrac-
tion; the lode favors cheap stoping, by reason of a con-
venient dip and the occurrence of plentiful cross-fractures.
Therefore, on the whole, conditions, as controlled by the
width, breaking and composition of the copper-bearing
rock, favor the carrying out of the contract system, the
elimination of sorting, and rapidity of extraction. This is
also true of the Wolverine. The criticism has been made

THE COPPER MINES

RE-TIMBERING No, 3. SHAFT, TAMARACK.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

94 THE COPPER MINES

that the Atlantic method left a large amount of ground
under the successive levels; but, having regard to the
poorness, of the rock and the consequent small quantity of
copper buried in such floor-pillars, it appears that the cost
of the extra timbering, required to extract this additional
10 or 15 ft. of dangerous ground, would exceed the value of
the copper secured.

In the Baltic method no such pillars are left, and the ex-
ploration of the lode is carried beyond the apparent walls
into the outer coimtry, wherever the copper is found to ex-
tend. The bulges, and other irregularities of copper dis-
tribution which characterize the Baltic lode, render the
adoption of the Atlantic method inadvisable. In fact, the
adaptation of method to conditions fulfils the essence of
practical mining. In the adjoining property, the Champion,
a different system has obtained. An arch 8 ft. thick is left
above each main level, mill-holes being cut at intervals of
25 to 30 ft.; the stopes are started above this arch, the
miners standing upon the rock, as they break it, until the
next level overhead is reached ; no floor-pillar is left, because
this is rendered unnecessary by the roof-arch. This
method is being abandoned, for several reasons. When the
broken stuff is withdrawn from the stopes, the hanging is
apt to break and mix with the mill-rock; moreover, the
arches left behind are likely to prove inadequate for the
support of the weight of superincumbent groun.-\ when the
mine becomes deep, and their collapse might induce a creep
fatal to the pillars protecting the shaft itself.

In one respect the system of stoping in vogue is open to
criticism. That part of the lode which it is profitable to
extract, occurs usually in a body of unusual length and
persistence, requiring long levels and deep shafts. Fre-
quently the beds of amygdaloid are stoped the full length
of the company's property, from boundary to boundary.
Nevertheless, the extraction proceeds from the shaft
outward, instead of the reverse. By driving the main

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

96 THE COPPER MINES

levels to the boundary or to the known limit of the body
of copper rock, and then stoping backward toward the
shaft, the ground could be allowed to cave; the track could
be taken up; the interruptions to traffic due to intervening
stopes would be avoided; and, at the same time, communi-
cation, when established between two levels, at those ends
farthest from the shaft, would stimulate ventilation. At
the Atlantic it was stated that such a plan would render a
level non-productive until its full length had been driven;
but, surely, in a mine with thirty working faces, one can be
spared for a time by increasing the extraction at some other
place. Once the drift is completed, the extraction at any
single level ought to be more rapid if commenced at the end
farthest from the shaft. In the Calumet & Hecla, the
drifts are extended from shaft to shaft, stoping being started
midway and extended in both directions simultaneously.
This represents the same idea. It certainly is worth while
for the mine managers, especially in young mines which
promise to extend to a depth of a mile, and for a distance of
as much as two miles, to ponder over this problem, the
proper solution of which in each case must play so im-
portant a part in the economics of mining.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

MASS FOUND IN ANCIENT WORKINGS.

X. — ^Mass Copper.

It is believed by many people usually well informed, that
in the mines of the Lake Superior region there are bodies of
metallic copper so large that it has been found impracticable
to extract them. I remember being told seriously seven
years ago that in the Michipicoten district, on the north
shore, there were rich copper lodes that were not profitable
because the metal occurred in masses so huge that they
could not be mined successfully. Similar statements
appear frequently in popular accounts of the copper coun-
try. But recent investigation of this interesting matter
enables me now to dissipate a fallacy which has retained a
curiously sustained vitality since the days of Alexander
Henry and Douglass Houghton.

The white men who first crossed the lake and penetrated
the forests of the peninsula, found evidence of earlier
attempts to extract the copper. We know that the Indians
worked the metal that outcropped massively at many
localities; and there are those who maintain that this was
also done by an earlier race of higher capacities long
since vanished. Testimony to their effort is shown by the
battered fragments of copper dug out of old abandoned
workings. Such is the one illustrated on the preceding
page; this weighed three tons, and was taken from
a pit 16.5 ft. deep at McCargo Cove, on Isle Royale; it
exhibits the marks of stone hammers or hatchets. There is
good reason to suppose that the Indians built fires around
the masses of copper which were too large to be removed;
and that after removing the adhering rock, loosened through
the effect of the heat, they separated portions with their
hatchets by pounding the copper into waves, as shown in
the illustration, until it was finally forced apart in small
fragments. Furthermore, the reports of the early voyageurs
made mention of the celebrated 'copper rock,' an immense

COPPER MINES. 99

boulder of metal found on the right bank of the Ontonagon
river; it was visited by the first explorers and travelers,
who testified that there was nothing like it anywhere in the
world. This mass weighed about four tons; it appeared to
be out of place, and may have been moved, by the Indians,
thus far from the outcrop of the Minesota lode, a distance of
two miles only. It was floated down the river on a raft by
Julius Eldred in 1843 to the village of Ontonagon, to be
seized subsequently by the United States Government and
shipped to Washington, where it can now be seen at the
Smithsonian Institution. On inquiry at the Smithsonian
Institution, I was informed that this Ontonagon boulder,
as it now stands in the National Museum, weighs 6,500
pounds. From a pamphlet by Mr. Charles Moore, entitled
The Ontonagon Copper Bowlder in the U. S. National
Museum,' and issued by the Government printing office at
Washington in 1897, I extracted the following data.
According to Henry R. Schoolcraft, a member of the .
expedition that endeavored to bring it away, the greatest
length of the mass was 3 feet 8 inches, and its greatest width
3 feet 4 inches. He gave a sketch of the locality, which is
given in the frontispiece. The final effort to remove this
unwieldy lump of metal is described thus:' ''It took a week
for the party of 21 persons to get the rock up the 50-foot
hill near the river; then they cut timbers and made a stout
wooden railway track, placed the rock on the car, and
moved it with capstan and chains as houses are moved.
For four miles and a half, over hills 600 ft. high, through
valleys and deep ravines; through thick forests where the
path had to be cut; through tangled underbrush, the home
of pestiferous mosquitoes, this railway was laid and the
copper boulder was transported; and when at last the rock
was lowered to the main stream, nature smiled on the labors
of the workmen by sending a freshet to carry their heavily-
laden boat over the lower rapids and down to the lake."
The Government paid $5,664.98 to Julius Eldred and sons

100 THE COPPER MINES

for their time and expenses in purchasing and removing the
boulder. In regard to the agency which moved it from its
place in a neighboring lode to the banks of the Ontonagon
river, the balance of evidence ascribes it to the Indians;
though it is possible that unknown early white adventurers
did the work. In referring to this question, Mr. Moore
gives the following interesting information:"

"During the winter of 1847-48, Mr. Samuel 0. Knapp,
the agent of the Minesota mine, observed on the present
location of that mine a curious depression in the soil,
caused, as he conjectured, by the disintegration of a vein.
Following up these indications, he came upon a cavern, the
home of several porcupines. On clearing out the rubbish,
he found many stone hammers; and, at a depth of 18 ft., he
came upon a mass of native copper 10 ft. long, 3 ft. wide,
and nearly 2 ft. thick. Its weight was more than 6 tons.
This mass was found resting upon billets of oak supported by
sleepers of the same wood; there were three courses of
billets and two courses of sleepers. The wood had lost all
its consistency, so that a knife-blade penetrated it as
easily as if it had been peat; but the earth packed about the
copper gave that a firm support. By means of the cobwork
the miners had raised the mass about five feet, or something
less than one-quarter of the way to the mouth of the pit.
The marks of fire used to detach the copper from the rock,
showed that the early miners were acquainted with a
process used with effect by their successors. This fragment
had been pounded until every projection was broken off,
and then had been left, when and for what reason is still
unknown. From similar pits on the same location came ten
carloads of ancient hammers, one of which weighed 39^
pounds and was fitted with two grooves for a double handle.
There were also found a copper gad, a copper chisel with a
socket in which were the remains of a copper handle, and
fragments of wooden bailing bowls. At the Mesnard mine.

Page 1029. Report of U. S, National Museum, 1895.

1) * * i'

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 101

in 1862, was found an 18-ton boulder that the 'ancient
miners' had moved 48 ft. from its original bed."

The large bodies of metallic copper found in the lodes of
Lake Superior are known as 'mass.' The mines which first
established the fame of this region, such as the Cliff,
Phoenix, Central, Minesota, and National, were all charac-
terized by the occurrence of 'mass.' These chunks of
copper were found near the surface, and for years they con-
tinued to be encountered underground in great quantity.
Such mines required but little capital; they needed chiefly
the labor of cutting the metal and of hoisting it to daylight.
'Mass mining,' therefore, characterized the early days.
Had the Calumet & Hecla, which has always yielded a
strictly stamp-mill product, been discovered in the first
decade of development, it probably would have been a
failure. The discovery of the Calumet conglomerate came
when the rudiments of mining had been learned and when
the 'mass' mines were approaching exhaustion.

Two-thirds of the output of the Cliff mine was in the form
of masses; some of them yielded from 100 to 150 tons, and
as late as 1875 one of 40 tons was taken out.^' These
irregular bodies of metal require special mining methods,
for it is impossible to drill into them or to use picks in the
ordinary way. Professor Blake has described the usual
practice in words that I cannot improve: "The miner picks
out or excavates a passage or chamber upon one side of the
mass, laying it bare as far as possible over its whole surface.
It is usually firmly held by its close union with the vein-
stuff, or by its irregular projections above, below and at the
end. If it cannot be dislodged by levers, the excavation of a
chamber is commenced behind the mass, and this excava-
tion is made large enough to receive from 5 to 20 or more
kegs of powder. Bags of sand are used for tamping, and
the drift is closed up by a barricade of refuse and loose dirt."

^^ W. P. Blake, Transactions American Institute Mining Engineers
Vol. IV, p. 110.

102 THE COPPER MINES

Reference is made to this method in the description of the
effort which was made to extricate the great mass found
in the old Minesota mine.

The Minesota mine, in the Ontonagon district, was cele-
brated for large masses. The largest was found in 1857; its
greatest length was 46 ft., its greatest breadth 18.5 ft., and
its greatest thickness 8.5 ft. The mean width was 12.5 ft.,
and the mean thickness 4 ft. Twenty men labored 15
months .to remove it from the rock ; some of the cuts had a
face of 16 sq. ft., and the cutting-up yielded 27 tons of
copper chips. The weight was estimated at 500 tons," but
I shall have more to say about this directly.

The circumstances of this work are told graphically by
Geo. D. Emerson, whose statement is quoted in The
Mineral Statistics of Michigan' for the year 1880. "They
uncovered a series of masses with an eastward inclination
for the length of 70 to 80 ft., and going out of sight both
above and below. It was at once apparent that they had
something very valuable, but they had no conception of the
immense thing which a few days' work disclosed. At one
convenient point they broke away behind the copper so as
to get in a sand blast of five or six kegs of powder. They
stripped the mass further, and again fired without result.
Again they fired nine kegs of powder, and the mass remained
unmoved. Breaking the rock aroimd for a considerable
distance, 18 kegs of powder were shot off without effect,
and again 22 kegs, and the copper entirely undisturbed at
any point. After further clearing, 25 kegs were shot off
under the copper, and it was thought with some effect.
But a final blast of 30 kegs, or 750 lb., was securely tamped
beneath the mass and fired. As soon as the smoke cleared
away a mass of copper 45 ft. long and 3 to 5 ft. in thickness,
apparently very pure, and which will probably weigh 300
tons, had been shot out and was ready for cutting up. The
blast had torn the immense body from its bed without

^* 'Mineral Statistics of Michigan/ 1880, p. 76.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 103

exhibiting a sign of breaking or bending in any place,
so great was its thickness and strength. It was torn
off from other masses, which still remain in the solid
rock."

They had exploded 110 kegs, or 2,750 lb. powder! One
might remark that, had the copper proved less resisting to
the violent efforts of these miners, it would not have pos-
sessed the value in art and industry which we accord to it.
The tenacity of the metal, as recognized by these workers
underground, may have hindered its easy partition, but it
certainly is one of the qualities for which it commands a
price when it reaches the surface. However, the mass,
whose removal is told so well in the above quotation, was
undoubtedly the largest single body of metallic copper ever
mined. Its weight has been variously stated in many
reports as having been 500, 530, or 585 tons. Quite recently,
however, certain papers covering the business of the Mine-
sota mine were found by Mr. Samuel Brady, the manager
of the Michigan mine, which is the successor of the old
Minesota, and the data therein contained prove that the
celebrated mass weighed 420 tons.^* These bodies of copper
are extremely irregular in thickness; they are ragged in
form and straggle through the lode until they nearly
connect with other monstrous nuggets. Such was the
character of the series of masses encountered in the Bay
State mine, now the Phoenix, forty years ago. These aggre-
gated some 600 tons; but they were bodies, none of which
singly exceeded 200 tons, connected by strings of metal.
Therefore, the fact remains that 420 tons is the largest
single mass of native copper recorded in the history of
mining.

The practice then was, and still is, to cut the mass
with cape chisels having a f-in. bit, the successive chips

^^This information is contained in a letter dated October 3, 1865,
addressed by Capt. William Harris, manager of the mine, to the
secretary of the company, S. M. Pond.

104 THE COPPER MINES

being about J in. thick. The narrow strips obtained from
this operation, when made by skillful operators, and in the
absence of any flaw or included rock along the course of the
chisel, are taken in one cut through the entire 'mass.'
The earlier method was to carry the chip about J in. thick,
as stated, and of equal thickness on both sides; but later
this was changed to a more rapid way, the chips thinning to
an edge and alternating, as is usual with a cutting made by
a chisel of this kind, the process being similar to the driving
of a key-way. The narrow strips obtained from this opera-
tion are only about half the length of the groove which
yielded them, because the metal becomes pressed together
and thickened by the blows of the cutters. Certain men
made a specialty of this work and became expert, so as to
cut a square foot of surface per shift; this meant that one
man held the chisel and guided it along the line of cut,
while two others struck the chisel alternately with sledge-
hammers. The cost averaged $12 to $14 per sq. ft.
Nowadays, when the cutters are not often needed and special
skill is not available, the cost (when done by hand) is
greater. At the Michigan mine the pneumatic hammer
has been used recently for cutting mass, and with success.
Mr. Brady informs me that the actual cost of cutting two
masses in this mine, during the current year, was $3.15 per
sq. ft., exclusive of power. The cost of cutting the 420-ton
mass, previously described, appears, according to a letter
of Capt. William Harris, bearing date of October 3, 1865,
to have been $12 per square foot.

At the Quincy some masses have been found in recent
years, but no big ones. Five or six tons is the limit for
convenient handling, but, of course, this will depend
largely upon the shape of the mass. Larger bodies are cut
so as to yield pieces suitable for tramming and hoisting.
The time taken in the cutting depends upon the shape;
sometimes a narrow neck connects two outlying portions,
in which case the division is facilitated. The photograph on

OF LAKE SUPBRIOU

106 THE COPPER MINES

the opposite page illustrates the cutting of a mass weigh-
ing six tons.

It will be obvious that masses of portable size are less
expensive to extract than the very big ones; or, to put it
in another way, six lumps of 5 tons each and needing no
cutting, will yield more profit than one of 30 tons, which
may require to be cut into five or six portions. It is said
that the great mass of the Minesota mine did not leave much
of a margin for profit, for this reason; and it is obvious,
from the description already given, that a good deal of vain
effort was expended in extricating that elephantine chunk;
but the wages of even the 20 men mentioned, who worked
15 months to remove it, would aggregate only $18,000 at
the most, and against this there would be the 420 tons of
copper; this would yield about 79 per cent refined copper,
or 324.17 tons, which, at $400 per ton, net cash on de-
livery, after deducting cost of transport, conversion and
sale, would yield a total of $129,668,^* so that the mining
cost represents only 14 per cent of the value realized. As
a matter of fact, the chips obtained in cutting are usually
enough to pay for the cost of the operation. The 27 tons
of chips taken from the Minesota mass were worth, under
the conditions and prices of 1857, not less than $8,500;
and it is certain that the cost of extracting this particular
mass was extraordinary, on account of its size and the
difficulty of getting it out of the lode. It can be asserted
confidently that no one in the Lake Superior country is
afraid to encounter mass copper for fear it should prove
unprofitable !

Incidentally, it will be interesting to refer to the occur-
rence of native silver. The largest piece of pure silver
found within the last few years was in the Mass mine, and
it weighed 12 lb. This piece formed part of the Michigan

^ In making this estimate I am guided by the report of the National
Mining Company, the neighbor of the Minesota, published in The
^ fining Magazine, December, 1857.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 107

mineral exhibit at St, Louis. In 1873 a small boy, while
'cobbing' or selecting bits of copper rock in the dump of
the national mine, at Rockland, broke, from a piece of
conglomerate, a lump weighing 16 lb. Capt. J, C. Thomas,
now at the Michigan mine, and formerly at the Cliff, states
that he has seen pieces of practically pure metal weighing

CUTTING A MASS. QUINCY MINE.

from 25 to 30 lb. taken from the Cliff mine, as much as
$500 worth being extracted in a single night by the men,
who presumably did not report the fact to the office.
Many thousand dollars have been taken from the mines of
Lake Superior in the form of silver secreted by workmen,
not to mention the specimens which now enrich museums
all over the world.

XI. — Exploration.

The maps showing the holdings of the different com-
panies in the Lake Superior region, exhibit none of that
confusing interpenetration of claims which characterizes
the mining districts of the Rocky Mountains. That iniqui-
tous principle represented by "the law of the apex" is not
known; acreage replaces apex rights; and simplicity of
tenure obviates the interminable litigation which seems to
be the necessary baptism of a rich mine in Montana or
Colorado.

Any map of the region (as, for instance, that of the
companies on the South Range, on the next page) ex-
hibits the checkered squares of the sections into which each
township is subdivided. There are 36 sections to a town-
ship; the latter is six miles square, so that each section
represents 640 acres, further subdivision being made into
quarter-sections of 160 acres, and these again into 40-acre
tracts. The boundary lines carry mineral rights vertically
downward, without restriction of any kind. The ownership
of the land near the copper mines has passed out of the
hands of the original owner, the Federal Government; it is
now held by individuals, where not consolidated into com-
pany holdings, there being one exception in the case of the
St. Mary's Canal Mineral Land Company, which, by reason
of building the great waterway of the Lakes through the
Sault Ste. Marie, was given a grant of land, a large portion
of which was selected so as to cover that part of the copper
belt not already pre-empted. It is on this territory that
those discoveries were made which led to the making of the
mines on the South Range. Another exceptional land-
owner is the public school; by State law, every Section 16
was set aside as the property of the public schools, and
it is a matter of regret that no Section 16 has as yet proved
to be the site of a rich mineral development.

COPPER MINES.

109

(I'
o
o

no THE COPPER MINES

The fact that the extension in depth of the lodes was
not properly secured by claims in the direction of dip did
not enter into the calculations of the early operators, but
now that persistence in depth has been established there is
more foresight shown. The Calumet & Hecla Company,
for example, undoubtedly made a blunder in failing to
secure the 'deep level' of their big discovery, an omission
which became the basis for the organization of the Tama-
rack, whose first shaft went down vertically 2,100 ft. before
it cut the Calumet conglomerate. At the present time the
AUouez is another example of a 'deep lever enterprise, it
having been planned on an estimated dip of 38° to cut the
Kearsarge-Wolverine amygdaloid at 1,100 feet.

Bold outcrops of rich ore do not characterize the Lake
district, so that the beginnings of a successful mine require
more than the ordinary prospector's activity. The Mo-
hawk was found by the uprooting of a tree, caused by the
falling of another tree which had been felled by a wood-
chopper. Mr. John Stanton had obtained an option on the
property with a view to prospecting. The chopper brought
him a lump of rock showing copper, which adhered to the
roots of the tree, and he then arranged for a systematic
exploration. Thirteen pits were put down to a depth of 30
to 40 ft., and for lengths of 25 to 45 ft. across the strike
of the lode. All save two of these trenches exposed copper
ore of good grade, and the evidence thus obtained was
held to warrant the sinking of shafts. In this case the
drift overlying the true rock was only 12 to 20 ft. thick;
but elsewhere in the district such prospecting is rendered
expensive by reason of a heavy overburden of drift. On
the Globe ground, just south of the Champion, there is as
much as 200 ft. of 'wash'; and, in order to determine the
position and value of the lode, it was necessary to put down
two diamond-drill holes from a point some distance dip-
ward, so as to strike the lode at right angles, and these
holes passed through 225 ft. of drift and 600 ft. of rock

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. Ill

before they cut the ore, with results that warranted the
expenditure.

A good example of the application of geological knowledge
to mining exploration is afforded by the story of the
Champion mine. But before this is related, a few intro-
ductory remarks are necessary. The trap beds — ^that is,
the layers of diabase forming so large a part of the Kewee-
naw aeries — are so nearly alike that identification is ordi-
narily impracticable, but occasionally some mineralogical
characteristic will serve as a guide; thus the foot-wall of
the Kearsarge amygdaloid is a bed marked by large feld-
spars. Dr. L. L. Hubbard, formerly State Geologist, used
this fact to determine the position of the Kearsarge amygda-
loid, and he proved that it was a safe indicator. It is also
proper to state that the officers of the Michigan Geological
Survey recognized the foot-wall at the Mohawk as being
this same bed, before they knew that any openings had
disclosed copper; and they made known this identification
at once, although it was a long time before the people of
the district would admit the correctness of the correlation.
Usually the amygdaloid layers are more susceptible to
weathering than the compact trap encasing them, conse-
quently they become covered with drift and soil. The con-
glomerate beds, on the other hand, resist erosion and form
occasional outcrops. It was through one of these that the
Champion mine was discovered.

The Champion location covers the southern extension of
the Baltic lode; in the Baltic mine there is a conglomerate
bed lying 112 ft. to the east — ^in the foot-wall — of the Baltic
copper-bearing amygdaloid; this conglomerate is supposed
to be Marvine's No. 3. In his explorations over what is
now the Champion company's ground, and over what was
then a tract of bush-land belonging to the Canal company,
Dr. Hubbard found one solitary outcrop of what he took
to be the No. 3 conglomerate just referred to; this outcrop
was 50 ft. long — ^long enough to give a line of strike; he

112 THE COPPER MINES

then stepped off 112 ft. westward and came to a ledge of
trap, evidently not what he was seeking ; but a few feet
beyond there was a depression in the jsurfaee marking the
course of a stream, in the bed of which he found an amygda-
loid. By following the course of this amygdaloid, along
another depression between two outcrops of trap, he soon
unearthed some copper ore. Then, guided by the strike
of the conglomerate, he followed the parallel amygdaloid;
he made 13 openings, and found the copper lode in all of
them. This was the beginning of the Champion mine, of
which the successful geologist just mentioned is now the
efficient manager.

While I was at Houghton there was talk of discoveries on
Section 15, a tract on which this same Baltic-Champion
lode had been found. As I wanted to see what appearance
was presented by an infant copper mine of the Lake Superior
type, I went to see the discovery, by the courtesy of Messrs.
R. E. Pryor, James Blandy and J. P. Edwards. Work was
proceeding in an open-cut, recently enlarged from a pros-
pecting trench, at the bottom of which a copper lode was
exposed. One foot to 18 in. of soil and gravel formed a
surface layer, in which nests of carbonated copper were
buried; these were essentially pieces of 'float' copper, so
oxidized that the carbonated mass usually contained only a
nucleus, as big as a pea, of copper coated with cuprite and
buried in malachite and azurite. Under this layer came
three or four feet of 'hard pan,' a mass of brecciated rock
and gravel well cemented, in which were seen further frag-
ments of copper coated by cuprite and surrounded by car-
bonates; below this, within the seams in the amygdaloid
rock, there were copper stains for a further depth of 8 or 9
ft., although the country itself exhibited no weathering.
The open-cut showed a wide lode carrying metallic copper
distributed irregularly and to an extent which the eye
could not gauge. A succession of trenches indicated the
manner in which the lode had been traced.

OF LAKE SVPERIOR.

114 THE COPPER MINES

Mr. Edwards told me the story of this young enterprise.
At the southern end of the ground, he had found a solitary
outcrop of conglomerate; as I saw it, it was a rounded hum-
mock amid the bush, rising three or four feet above the
general surface and extending for 40 or 50 ft. He sunk
pits in this conglomerate, to determine the line of the strike
and to permit him to infer the relative course of the amyg-
daloid lode he was seeking. Mr. Edwards had made up his
mind that this was the No. 3 conglomerate, which is quite
prominent at surface north of the Baltic; and, knowing that
its normal position was 112 to 115 ft. east of the Baltic
amygdaloid, he obtained a line of departure for his pros-
pecting trenches. At 130 ft. he found the lode he was
looking for, the greater distance being accountable to the
difference in dip, 55° here, as against 73° at the Baltic.
Thereupon Messrs. J. P. Edwards, R. C. Pryor and others
went to work to secure terms from the owners of the land,
which was held in 40, 60 and 95-acre tracts by various
individuals. These gave them an option, on condition of
$10,000 being raised for exploratory work; and, this being
done, a local company was then organized to take over the
option and distribute the shares pro rata according to the
acreage of each participant. Enough treasury stock —
50,000 shares — was created to enable working capital to be
raised as required for the mining operations; 10,000 of these
shares were sold at $1 to meet expenses of prospecting,
while the remainder was kept in the treasury for further
contingencies. It is intended to proceed with exploration
and development. When sufficient work shall have been
done and enough copper ore accumulated, arrangements
will be made to lease a stamp and to ship the output over the
nearest railroad to the mill.

This story has been related to exemplify the manner in
which mining enterprises are started in this region. Every
district has its own method, dependent entirely upon the
nature of the mineral discovery and the amount of capital

OF LAKE SUPERIOR, 115

required to make a profitable mine. Of course, in the case of
these low-grade copper mines, there is an enormous amount
of money required for development, for a mill, usually for a
railroad, and sometimes for a smelter, before the enterprise
is finally placed upon the safe plane of an investment.

In comparing these lodes of native copper with other
metalliferous deposits, they are found to present one
striking feature — the impossibility of sampling them. To
anyone accustomed to precious-metal mining, in which
every stage of intelligent enterprise is checked by accurate
sampling, the inability to employ this method in the Lake
Superior mines presents a subject of peculiar interest. It
is obvious that the occurrence of the metal in a native condi-
tion, and in sizes ranging between the microscopic and
masses weighing many tons, offers an insurmountable
obstacle to any sampling method which is based essentially
on the doctrine of averages. To sample a vein containing
free gold in pockety form has long been given up as a hope-
less task, more likely to mislead than to guide; this is. prac-
tically the problem in the Lake Superior region. No cross-
sectional determination of contents by channeling a breast
of copper ore will help the appraiser of values, because
not only is the distribution of the metal sporadic, but it
occurs in a form rendering it impracticable to break a true
sample. A moil and a hammer are of no more use than a
pocket-knife when it comes to cutting across a lump of
tenacious metal, or a concrete of shot copper, and such is
the usual composition either of an ordinary amygdaloidal,
or of a conglomerate, copper lode.

The sampler and the assay-plan are unknown at Hough-
ton and at Calumet; but other methods are employed. In
the first place, experience enables a man to judge the per-
centage of copper in the rock; such judgment is subject to
error, as being at best only a guess, but it serves a useful
purpose, especially when applied to different faces of the
same lode, each having its own copper habit, that is, a

116 COPPER MINES

certain ratio between the lumps and the finer particles.
When examining a new discovery or a young mine under-
going early development, an experienced man will separate
the ^barrel work' or lumps of metal coming up in a given
number of buckets or cars, and in that way he can deter-
mine the number of pounds of copper per ton of rock. Of
course, he has no way of getting at the fine copper scattered
through the rock, and he must decide from the character of
the lode how great a part this plays in the actual percentage
of metal present. If it appears from a test such as this,
that the lode is rich enough to become the basis for a profit-
able mine, then development is pushed until the enterprise
reaches the next stage. This is the accumulation of sufficient
copper ore to permit of the leasing of a stamp and the
making of a mill-run. There is usually some mill in the
district which is idle or has a stamp — out of two or three —
which can be leased. The work of one stamp means the
crushing of from 500 to 600 tons per day; and the trial may
cover a shipment of 1,000 tons, or it may mean steady
crushing from a continuous output. In either case, the
quality of the average output of the mine is adequately
tested, and this may warrant either the leasing of milling
facilities for a term of years or the erection of a mill in con-
nection with the mine. The charge for custom milling
ranges from 40 to 45 cents per ton.

It was by such methods that most of the mines made their
beginning, and it is obvious from this account that the
determination of the value of a copper mine requires capital.
It takes a gold mine to make a copper mine; but it is fair to
add that when the copper mine is once set going in the Lake
region, it outlasts several gold mines of the average kind.

, XII. — ^Milling Methods.

The thunder of the ordinary stamp-mill may be likened
to the rhythmic crash of the surf; at a distance, especially
among mountains encouraging an echo, the muffled roar of
many stamps is a^ the voice of the sea when heard from far
inland. But the steam-stamp has no poetry; it is all
business. It seemed to me, while in the Lake Superior
copper region, that whether a mill contained one stamp or
twenty, it was only a single elephantine thump that I
heard. Inside also there was not the confusing uproar
which accompanies the work of gravity stamps when under
cover, but the decisive thuds of one or more heads sending
their tons of weight into the bed of ore on the dies. In
Gilpin county, Colorado, a mill that crushes 500 tons per
diem would contain three or four hundred stamps, while a
California mill with equal capacity would require about
two hundred, and, similarly, a South African plant treating
500 tons would have 100 stamps; therefore, to the visitor
from other mining regions, a mill of one stamp appears a
lonesome piece of machinery, until it is realized that it
crushes a tonnage equal to the output of a whole row of
batteries of the ordinary type. The Isle Royale mill, the
first one I visited, because it is close to the town of Hough-
ton had only one stamp in operation, yet it crushes 550
tons per diem, and the contrast with earlier experiences
was vivid.

There is less noise; there is also less vibration; and, by
reason of the absence of long belts from shaft to counter-
shaft, there is more room, which is utilized to the extent of
employing the feed-floor as a machine shop. At the very
beginning of the milUng, and thence to the end of the
operation, the object of the reduction process is in plain
sight. With a gold ore of average grade, one does not see

118 THE COPPER MINES

the metal ; it is extracted when still alloyed with mercury as
an amalgam, as a concentrate intimately associated with
bright sulphides, or as an unseen element in black slime.
But in this treatment of copper ore, the metal stands out
everywhere — it is picked in big chunks out of the broken
stuff running from the bin into the mortar; it is discharged
in lumps as big as potatoes from the mortar itself; it is
taken as a red gravel from the roughing jigs; it comes in
finer grains from the finishing jigs, and as a red mud from
the Wilfleys. Throughout the series of operations, the
object of all the expenditure of machine power and human
labor is plainly visible. Finally, it is collected, not in the
relatively insignificant proportion in which gold is obtained,
but lavishly, to be loaded into oil-barrels, of 52 gal. capacity;
each of these contains 1,500 to 1,800 lb., and when ready for
shipment, they are sent on railroad cars, to the smelter.

In the early days, when the Eagle River and Ontonagon
mines were the principal producers, that part of the output
which went under the stamps was unimportant, the profit
being made from *mass' copper. The early stamp-mills
were crude affairs; it was the practice to calcine the rock
before stamping in order to facilitate the crushing. The
practice obtaining in 1876 was exemplified by the AUouez,
where the millstuff went from the stamp to a hydraulic
separator, the slime passing to settling boxes and then to
convex tables of the Evans type; while the oversize from
the separator went to seven double jigs. The Allouez com-
pany, in that year, erected a separate mill of 28 Cornish
stamps to re-crush the coarse sand, their attention having
been called to the loss incurred from insufficient grinding.
The stamp screens had i in. holes, and the water employed
amounted to 47 tons per 24 hours per ton of rock crushed,
or 1,556 gal. per min. for two stamps.

In 1855 the cost of stamping at the North American and
Copper Falls mills was from $1.65 to $2 per ton; in 1874 the
Quincy brought the cost down to $1.08; and, in 1881, wdth

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

120 THE COPPER MINES.

the introduction of the Ball stamp, to 72 cents. In 1882
the Atlantic attained a record with 37 cents per ton.

While at the Tamarack mine I saw a train of eleven cars,
carrying 440 tons of mine ore, about to start for the mill.
This entire trainload of copper ore was insufficient to keep
one stamp going for one day. Twenty-five years ago the
maximum capacity of a steam stamp was 150 tons of
amygdaloid; seven years ago it was 350 tons per stamp;
now the new compound stamp has a one-day record of 779
tons, and a two weeks' record of 725 tons per 24 hours of
actual running, or a duty of 700 tons per day, including
stops. This has been done recently at the Osceola mill on
Kearsarge amygdaloid.

To convey the product of this powerful crushing machine,
an enormous volume of water is required. The average
consumption is 3^ million gallons per head per 24 hours.
At the Quincy mill an Allis triple-expansion pumping engine
throws 16,000,000 gal., and a Worthington pump 12,000,000;
this supply of 28,000,000 gal. is consumed by the eight
stamps, of which seven are usually at work. There is an
overflow of 3,500,000 gal., or sufficient for another stamp —
which includes, of course, the array of jigs and tables that
represent the scheme of treatment. In an ordinary stamp-
mill the water used averages 3 to 5 gal. per stamp per
minute, or about 10 tons of water per ton of ore. In these
steam-stamp works, the ratio is 30 tons of water to one ton
of ore crushed.

The process consists of coarse crushing — ^through screen
openings of f inch — ^followed by successive ehmination of
the copper by jigs and concentrating tables, aided by the
usual classifiers. A small part of the material undergoes
re-grinding. It is a process of elimination of a single
product — native copper — ^by gradual concentration, the
crude material being to the final product in the ratio of
about 60 to 1. A Montana mill treating mixed sulphides
would be nearly four times as big.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

122 THE COPPER MINES

The steam-stamp was invented by Ball, who had built
steam-hammers, and saw their availabiUty for crushing ore;
the steam-stamp may also be regarded as a gravity stamp
of great weight, actuated directly by a steam-engine, the
stem becoming the extension of the piston. In the Leavitt
design, in which the steam is admitted only at the top of the
cyhnder, the stamp-shaft, with its attached shoe, on striking
the bed of ore, rebounds against the condensing cushion of
steam, so that the uneven surface of ore on the die suffices
to turn the stamp. But this turning is quite irregular; it is
scarcely appreciable for two or three successive drops, and
then comes a grand whirl equal to half a revolution. In
the Allis and Nordberg stamps, the steam is admitted to the
cylinder both at the top and bottom; the steam admitted
through the upper ports drives the stamp-shaft down into
the bed of ore upon the die, the stamp being immediately
raised at the end of the stroke by the admission of steam
through the lower ports of the cylinder. By reason of the
force with which the shoe is driven into the ore, a mechan-
ical device is required to turn the stamp.

On the whole, while the steam-stamp is an impressive
rock-breaker, it is a bad pulverizer and an expensive kind
of engine, for it uses 45 to 60 lb. steam per horsepower-hour.
Greater economy has been secured by the introduction of
the compound system. In the Osceola and Champion
mills, the use of compound engines on the stamps has
met with excellent results and has enabled the at-
tainment of a maximum crushing capacity — 710 tons per
head.

The ore contains lump copper, which the stamp of
course fails to crush, and only serves to deform; this is
extracted by two devices, both of which are described in the
notes which follow. These lumps of metal, like potatoes
in size, used to be a serious obstacle. Before the automatic
discharges were invented, it was necessary to stop three
or four times in a shift, and raise the stamp on blocks, while

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 123

prying out the chunks of metallic copper with picks and
crowbars.

A look at the ragged, irregular pieces of copper, with their
attached rock-matrix, as they appear before going under
the stamp, and the examination of the rounded nuggets as
discharged from the mortar, after being pounded under the
stamp, will enable one to realize the waste of power and
the abrasion of metal which must take place before the
milling operations are properly started.

The mortar screen is made in sections; at the Quincy
mill, out of five such sections, one of the central two has
1-inch openings while the others have f inch; it having
been found that this arrangement relieves the mortar of
nugget copper, which is unable to make its exit through
the hydraulic (Krause) discharge. The mortar is also pro-
vided with a hinged screen which enables it to be opened
for examination and closed again within five minutes.
Formerly this required at least one-quarter of an hour. It
is customary to open the mortar twice per shift, and oftener
when anything goes wrong.

Difference of character in the copper ore affects the
crushing of it and leads to a modification of treatment.
Amygdaloid is not only easier to crush than conglomerate,
but the copper does not enter so much into the harder
portions of the rock as in conglomerate, where the hardest
pebbles are intimately impregnated with the metal, and,
therefore, require finer comminution. The later takes
the form of re-grinding. This is today one of the principal
problems of the milling practice, but it will be considered
to better advantage when the representative mills shall kave
been described.

The Isle Royale is a comparatively new mill of three
stamps, designed on lines which represent the outcome of
the practice prevailing four years ago. Ore from the
mines comes in hopper-bottom cars of 30-ton capacity.
Sixteen to 20 of them arrive at the mill every 24 hours, to

124

THE COPPER MINES

Q^ •

y Q

O O Q

STEAM-STAMP OF THE

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

125

ALLIS-CHALMERS TYPE.

126 THE COPPER MINES

supply the single stamp now in operation. The capacity
of each stamp is 550 tons per diem. From the bin the ore
is fed, by gravity, along an iron chute, kept wet by a stream
of water, so as to aid the descent of the material and wash
down the fine stuff. A man with an iron rod, hooked at
the end, watches the feed and regulates it, by holding back
the ore on the chute or expediting it, as required by the
stamp, the needs of which are indicated by the striki g of
a ' bonnet ' or coupling upon an iron rod whenever the feed
is too low.

The stamp is driven, in its descent, by the piston of a
steam-engine having a 20-in. cylinder and rated at 190
horsepower. Steam follows the stamp for about half the
stroke, the head developing a maximum velocity of 25 ft.
per second. The total falling weight is three to four tons.
Each shoe weighs 800 lb. when new, and lasts about two
weeks, by which time it has lost half its weight. Both
shoes and dies are of chilled iron, made at the local foundry.
The stamp drops 108 times per minute, a stroke or drop of
24 in. and an actual average stroke of 20 to 24 in., the dif-
ference being due to the thickness of the bed of ore on the
die.

The mortar is circular and has a sectional lining which is
renewed every 1^ to 2 years. Discharge takes place through
a screen of punched steel-plate with holes f in. diameter.
After passing through this screen, the pulp goes to two
trommels, having ^in. holes, the oversize from which is re-
turned (at the rate of about 7 tons per hour) to the mortar
by means of a rubber belt-elevator. Removal of lump cop-
per from the mortar is effected by a hydraulic arrangement
known as the Parnall-Krause discharge. This device con-
sists essentially of a stream of water fed by a 6-in. pipe, and
entering through a 4-in. opening just below the lip of the
mortar. The rising stream is under pressure sufficient to
keep the rock from getting out of the mortar, while per-
mitting the exit of the copper. The pieces of metal thus

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

extracted are termed 'head-
ings.' About one-quarter of
the total product of the mill
comes out in this way; an
equal proportion of the re-
maining copper is extracted
between the mortar and the
trommels, by a similar hy-
draulic separation acting
through an inch pipe.

The scheme of treatment is
indicated on the accompany-
ing diagram, which illustrates
one-half of a symmetric ar-
rangement. - The undersize
from the trommels goes to a
Tamarack hydraulic classifier,
or spitzlutte, having four par-
titions. Four sizes are made;
these go to a respective series
of roughing jigs, of which there
are six rows of four each . They
are double compartment Col-
lom jigs. Each yields its pro-
duct of metallic copper; the
overflow goes to waste, while
the hutchwork passes on to
the distributors which feed
the finishing jigs; of these
there are twelve, with double
compartments. Here the pro-
duct is again copper metal;
the hutchwork goes to settling
boxes; a portion is clean
enough to go to the smelter;
the remtunder is re-treated;

THE COPPER MINES

INTERIOR OF TRIMOUNTAIN MILL.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 129

the overflow goes to the lake. Concerning the roughing
jigs, it may be added that the first of these has an
8-mesh sieve followed by a 10-mesh in the adjoining com-
partment; the next has 12 and 14-mesh, respectively;
the third 10 and 12; the fourth 14 and 16. In each case
the screen is cut to a sieve 24 in. wide by 36 in. long. Re-
turning to the classifier below the trommels; the slime
proceeds to V-shaped settling boxes and is there separated;
the overflow discharging into the lake, while the heavy goes
to three revolving two-deck buddies known as Evans tables,
the product of which is re-dressed on a Wilfley table, the
tailing from this machine being returned to the Evans sHme-
tables. The Evans buddies have a cement surface, and their
capacity is 12^ tons per deck, or 25 tons for the machine.

The 'ragging- from the second compartment of the
roughing jigs is withdrawn through an air discharge and
goes back to the stamp. This ' ragging ' is the heavy copper-
bearing sand lying immediately over the copper which con-
centrates on the sieve; it is essentially a coarse middling.
The treatment of this material was the only attempt at re-
grinding in the Isle Royale mill at the time of my visit;
but I am informed by the superintendent, Mr. J. G. Glan-
ville, that rolls are now being installed id treat oversize
from the revolving screens.

Another typical stamp-mill, crushing amygdaloid 'copper
rock,' is that of the Quincy, on Torch lake. Mr. Jas. W.
Shields is superintendent. There are two mills, one con-
taining five heads, and the other three. In the old mill,
each stamp has a crushing capacity of 475 tons, under a
steam-pressure of 98 lb. per sq. in.; while in the adjoining
new mill, a capacity of 550 tons is obtain^^d with a pressure
of 118 lb. of steam. New shoes weigh 708 lb. and last eight
days, by which time they weigh 435 lb. The die weighs
800 lb., and lasts six to eight months; when taken out it
weighs 225 to 275 lb. if it has worn evenly, the average
being 250 pounds.

130 THE COPPER MINES

The stamps have an improved discharge for removing
lump copper from the mortar, and there is a similar hydrau-
lic separator below each of the trommels, to which the
crushed ore passes from the stamp. The screen on the
mortar is made in five upright sections or strips, one of
them having openings of 1 inch, and the others holes of f
inch. The larger screen-opening is found to be successful
in relieving the mortar of lump copper which does not make
an exit by the mortar discharge. From the stamp the ore
goes to the two trommels, provided with screens having J-
in. holes. In each mill the trommels are followed by
classifiers and 24 roughing jigs, followed by more classifiers,
the oversize going to six finishing jigs, and the remainder
to two Wilfley tables. In the old mill, the slime, forming
the overflow from the first classifier, goes to four settling
boxes, or 'slime tanks,' and thence to six Wilfley tables.
In the new mill, there are six Wilfley tables and one Stand-
ard table for treating the slime to each stamp, the head
and middling from the set of six Wilfleys being pumped
into a settling box, the overflow going to the waste launder,
and the remainder to the Standard table, whence the tailing
goes back to the 'slime tank' feeding the six Wilfleys, while
the heading makes a copper product. The only re-grinding
is done by a Chilean mill, of the Monadnock type, which
crushes 60 tons per 24 hours, the material treated being the
coarse middUng from the last two series of roughing jigs,
which, after passing through a"lO-mesh sieve, is treated on
jigs and Wilfley tables.

The Isle Royale mill represents the prevailing practice
in the treatment of amygdaloid ores; that of the Calumet
& Hecla, now to be described briefly, is representative of
the accepted method of milling the copper-bearing con-
glomerate. The big plant of the Calumet & Hecla is
situated on Torch lake, about five miles from the mines; it
consists of two adjoining mill-buildings, both of them im-
pressive on account of their siae. As you walk through

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

131

Stamp

Wilfl^y

Slime

Settling
Tank

•3
si

-3

I
I

H. 4 - Cu. N>

T
I

Gravel

--'+■

-l^H.^-'^

1- H.

V hT- —

v^Cu.

X- -

Wilfleys .-

/
/

/Cu.

X-

Wilfleys

>Cu.

vCu.

///

"-■v.^>. y

-1— -"^

>^4„

Wilfley

^Cu.

Evans Tables

SCHEME OF TREATMENT, CALUMET & HECLA MILL

132 THE COPPER MINES

them the amount of machinery seems unending; for one
mill, containing 17 stamps, is 700 ft., and the other, with
11 heads, is 400 ft. wide, the length along the line of treat-
ment being 175 feet.

The total capacity of the 28 heads, with an average of
300 tons per stamp, is over 8,000 tons per day. Owing to
repairs and alterations, the actual scale of treatment is
represented by 6,000 tons. The stamps are of the Leavitt
type, and have a falling weight of 2 J tons, when the shoes
are new. From the bin, the millstuff passes over a gently
inclined iron chute, wide enough to serve as a sorting table,
the ore sliding forward with the aid of a jerking movement,
imparted by a crank at such a speed as to permit a man,
who watches the feed, to pick out any lump copper.

The stamp is not turned mechanically, by the friction of
the tappet and cam, as in the ordinary gravity stamp, but
by impact on the ore lying upon the die; this turning is er-
ratic, being slight for one or two drops, followed by a
sudden grand whirl, according to the state of the feed.

Removal of lump copper from the mortar is effected by
a jig recently invented; this has its operating end inside the
mortar. There is a slot, 1.5 in. wide, and 12 in. long, at
the base of the screen and on each side of the mortar;
under this there is a chamber, 4 in. by 12 in., bottoming
upon a sieve with 1-in. openings; and this, in turn, lies
over a larger compartment, divided by a double system of
valves, so that the copper can be discharged through a gate
without interfering with the work going on in the mortar
itself. The plunger of this jig (there being one on each side
of the mortar) gives an impulse which is transmitted
through the water in the successive chambers; the smaller
copper product (or 'hutchwork') passing through the lower
sieve, with the 1-in. openings; while the heavier pieces
gradually displace the gravel within the upper chamber (the
top of which is level with the bottom of the mortar screen),
until it is filled with Jumps of metal. This is then removed.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 133

without disturbing the wash of the stamp or jig, by opening
the back of the receptacle, the contents of which are me-
chanically discharged into an intermediate compartment;
and then, after closing the upper valve, through an opening
which empties outside.

It is recognized that an excessive use of water is a bad
feature of the local practice; and efforts have been made
to obviate this defect. To this end, a jig-classifier has been
devised to take the place of the V-separators in general use;
and this has already diminished the quantity of water con-
sumed by the milling operations. As the device is now
passing through the Patent Office, no drawings are avail-
able, but the following description will indicate its nature :
Two brass shields are placed within the body of the jig;
these shields are elliptical in plan, and are placed one within
the other at different heights above the jig-sieve; the outer
shield extends into, and is sealed by, the jigging material
(sand and gravel), so that the slime is prevented from rising
within the shield, and flows along the sides until it escapes
over the tail of the jig. The inner shield reaches down
into the copper bed lying on the sieve; the sand and gravel
entering under the outer shield, travel around the inner
one, and finally make their exit also through a slot at the
lower end of the jig, the slot being controlled by a gate
which regulates the fluctuations of the load. This inven-
tion produces an economy of water because the classifica-
tion is effected without the addition of any water except
sufficient to run the jig; and, in fact, the slime is slightly
de-watered by the settling action involved in the device.
Less attendance, and no plugs to choke, are other note-
worthy features of this arrangement, as compared with the
usual hydraulic classifiers and V-shaped separators. By
the use of the mortar-jig as against the Krause discharge,
by the aid of the jig-classifier just described, and by a
marked decrease in the number, and increase in the effi-
ciency, of ordinary jigs at work in the mill, the consumption

134 THE COPPER MINES

of water has been lowered from something like 2,500,000
gal., to 1,125,000 gal. per stamp per 24 hours.

The scheme of treatment is given in the diagram on
page 131. This shows (wherever Cu appears) the stages
at which the metaUic copper is extracted, and the gradual
eUmination of the encasing rock. (Wherever X appears
there is a product that goes to waste.) At the stamp there
are two extractions of copper on each side of the mortar, as
already described. On making its exit through the screen,
the pulp is divided so as to pass through two series of double
compartment jigs, five on each side. The first two jigs have
sieves 24 in. wide and 36 in. long; the next three have sieves
50 in. wide and 30 in. long; the jigs are arranged so that
the compartments are in series along the course of treat-
ment, the pulsation being along the line of flow.

The slime separated in the first jigs, by the classifier
already described, goes to a settling tank and thence to two
Evans revolving tables of four decks each, the partial con-
centrate from these eight 'buddies' — as they may be
termed — ^passing to four Wilfley tables, the middling from
which goes to a fifth Wilfley. MetaUic copper is obtained
at each of the Wilfleys. Returning to the jigs: metallic
copper is secured at the first two of each series, the other
three yielding 'gravel,' or middUng, which goes to a Chilean
mill for re-grinding. The hutchwork from all the jigs, goes
to two Wilfley tables; and the crushed middling from the
Chilean mill goes to two other Wilfleys, the middle heading
from all four being returned to a fifth, the middling of
which in turn goes to the Chilean mill. Metallic copper is
obtained from each of these Wilfleys also. The tailing
from the mill is elevated by raff- wheels of 50 ft. and 60 ft.
diameter; it is tested by taking automatically, and at regu-
lar intervals, a sample which is assayed for its copper con-
tents, and passed through successive sieves to determine
the character of the crushing.

Losses in milling of these copper ores are attributable

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 135

to two causes: the first is the abrasion of the metal due to
its being retained within the mortar after it is released
from the encasing rock, the rate of discharge being dispro-
portionate to the enormous rate of crushing; the second
cause is the existence of copper within particles of rock
which have been inadequately crushed; this is especially
true of conglomerate, in which the metal penetrates the
very body of the hard pebbles. The copper exists in parti-
cles ranging from the microscopic to massive; therefore,
the crushing can be likened to the breaking of nuts, the
kernel being liberated by the cracking of the shell; but the
nuts range from filberts to cocoanuts in size, and from pea-
nuts to brazils in hardness. Re-grinding, therefore, is an
important problem.

At present it is the practice, in many mills, to return the
oversize from the trommel back to the stamp, which is a
clumsy solution of the difficulty, because much of the pulp
simply travels the circuit. However, only a small propor-
tion of the pulp can be re-ground profitably, under existing
conditions, by reason of the high consumption of power
and the excessive wear and tear involved in all re-grinding
machines. It can be said that only material carrying 0.50
to 0.75 per cent copper, or more, will pay to treat in the
Chilean mill — ^which, at present, holds the field.

At the Baltic mill, where this practice was first used in
the copper country, 120 tons of oversize from the trommels
of one unit is passed through rolls; and this expedient has
raised the crushing capacity of the stamp just that amount
— 120 tons per day. At the Calumet & Hecla plant, the
Heberle mill, consisting of two steel disks, eccentric to each
other, and revolving in opposite directions, is used; but the
superintendent is in no way enthusiastic over this machine.
High-speed rolls and Huntington mills have been employed;
at present the Chilean mill, both the Monadnock and the
Allis type, form part of the equipment, and they are said
to do good work. But their capacity is small, namely 33

136 THE COPPER MINES

to 40 tons per 24 hours of the material known as 'ragging' ;
this ranges from 3-16 in. downward, and is re-ground
through a 16-mesh screen. They consume an excess of
power — ^28 h.p. per mill, equivalent to from 15 to 20 cents
per ton. In the Quincy mills the Monadnock type of
Chilean mill, 6 ft. in diameter, is in successful use. Each
machine consumes 25.61 h.p., and crushes from 55 to 60
tons of amygdoloid per 24 hours through a 10-mesh screen.
The product is granular and in good condition for the Wil-
fleys. At the Baltic, the 6-ft. Huntington mill, also working
on amygdaloid, puts 51 tons of J-in. material through a
16-mesh screen in 24 hours. Therefore, allowing for the
difference in screens, the Huntington appears to grind
faster than the Chilean mill working on similar material.
The Baltic mill has one Huntington to four stamps; this
machine treats the 'ragging' from the finishing jigs. In
this mill, rolls are also used early in the operation, the
oversize from trommels does not go back to the stamp;
from the trommel with J-in. openings, the oversize passes
to Sturtevant rolls; and from them it is returned to
the trommel, to take its regular course through the
plant.

From indicator cards it has been shown that the Chilean
mill takes 25 to 30 h.p., and the ordinary Huntington 14 h.p.
even where the latter is doing more grinding. The former
makes 26 to 30 revolutions per minute, the latter 60 to 65.
The consumption of steel amounts to about 15 cents per
ton in the one case, and 2.25 cents in the other. That is on
amygdaloid. The total cost of re-grinding coarse 'ragging'
may be put at 10 to 12 cents per ton for the Huntington,
and 30 to 35 cents for the Chilean.

The roller of a Chilean mill has a crushing weight of about
6,000 lb., this being the actual weight of the roller, plus
one-third the weight of the spider and the tire. The roller
in the Huntington weighs 1,400 lb., but by reason of the
centrifugal force developed by the greater speed of revolu-

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 137

tion, the virtual crushing weight of this is approximately
5,400 pounds.

The new Huntington mill, now being introduced, has the
same diameter as the one previously in use; but it is a more
powerful machine, with overhead drive, and is heavier,
weighing 45,000 lb., as against 26,000 lb., the weight of the
usual 6-ft. machine. This increase in weight was made in
consequence of experience obtained by Mr. Frank Klepetko
in the concentrator of the Boston & Montana Copper Com-
pany at Great Falls. In leaving this part of the subject,
it may be pointed out that re-grinding machinery in a mill
serves as a valuable cover to any erratic behavior on the
part of roughing jigs or other devices doing similar work.

It is difficult to secure accurate data concerning the
tailing losses. On amygdaloid, the Osceola tailing averages
0.018 per cent from an initial one per cent ore, making the
extraction 82 per cent. At the Adventure, with 0.95 per
cent ore, the tailing average is 0.26, giving an extraction
of 73 per cent. At the Champion, with ore carrying 30 lb.
of copper, of which 4 lb. is 'mass,' sorted out before milling,
the tailing ranges from 0.30 to 0.35 per cent, equal to an
extraction of 80 per cent. At the Quincy, the mill-rock
contains 19.3 lb. copper per ton, and the tailing averages
0.26 per cent, indicating an extraction of 83 per cent.
Speaking generally, it can be said that in treating an amyg-
daloid containing 1 to 1.5 per cent copper, the tailing
averages 0.25 to 0.35 per cent, this being equal to an ex-
traction of 75 to 80 per cent. On conglomerate such as
that of the Calumet & Hecla, the included copper carried
away in the tailing precludes a high extraction, a loss of
0.7 per cent indicating an extraction of 72 per cent on a 2.5
per cent ore.

The mill treatment, therefore, is not satisfactory; it has
not, for example, kept pace in improvement with the
mining methods of the region. The present practice is
really to drown the ore with an enormous volume of water,

13S THE COPPER MINES

not in the mortar alone, but also in the hydraulic classifiers.
This is required to aid the discharge from under the stamp,
and to convey the crushed material through an interminable
number of jigs. The stamp does not pulverize, it does the
work of a rock-breaker, for it reduces only to | inch. For
this work, as also for the other extreme — ^very fine grinding
— the stamp is not adapted. But effort toward betterment
is under way, and a radical departure from established
practice proves that prejudice is not to cripple advance-
ment. At the Champion mill, under the experienced
direction of Mr. F. G. Coggin, gyratory cru^ers are to be
tried, supplemented by rolls. A unit of equipment, capable
of treating 350 tons per day, is now in course of erection.
This scheme of treatment will be based on the gradual re-
duction of 'copper rock' through Gates gyratory crushers, to
a size suitable for further reduction by rolls instead of steam-
stamps, the idea being that if the ore can be sent to the
mill already reduced to a size of 2.5 in. or less, the expensive
steam-stamp is not needed. The saving to be made in
this way, will consist of a decrease in the power required —
at least 75 per cent — a smaller consumption of water in the
process of separation, and a diminution in slime, which does
not exist in the broken rock as delivered to the mill, but is
made chiefly by abrasion with the lump copper in the
mortar. It is also intended to jig the material coarser than
the present size, which is J inch, in order to allow some of
the coarser stuff to escape as tailing without further reduc-
tion; that portion requiring further comminution will be-
come 'middling' from the jigs, and will be reduced by re-
grinding machinery.

The general scheme involves the use of gyratory crushers
at the mine. There is one of these at the Champion mine
already; it is the 'No. 7^ Gates,' and has proved a satis-
factory machine, being better adapted to the crushing of
rock containing lump copper, than the breakers with straight
jaws. It is intended to erect a larger gyratory at the

OF LAKE SVPERIOR.

140 THE COPPER MINES

mine, so designed that the spindle can be dropped one inch,
thereby overcoming the delays due to the clogging of the
crusher by lumps of copper. The jaws of this crusher will
be set 2.5 in. apart. It is not practicable to dump the
skip or car direct into the crusher, as at the Homestake, on
account of the presence of lump copper, which requires
that the ore shall pass over grizzlies and undergo sorting
by hand. Under the gyratory will come a conveyor, with
boys to pick out pieces of copper which have been released
by the passage of the rock through the crusher. Then the
material passes to bins which load into cars that go to the
mill. At the mill, the bins will deliver to a shaking grizzly,
the oversize going to a gyratory — set at 1.5 in. — ^the product
from which will join the undersize from the grizzlies to be
elevated to a trommel, with |-in. apertures. From here
the material goes to roughing jigs; the oversize and under-
size, respectively, from the trommel going to separate jigs,
and from them to separate rolls. Thence the product is
raised to three trommels, with f , f , and J^-in. openings, all
the product, as sized, passing to different jigs, except the
screening from the last trommels, which goes to cone-
classifiers. At the last set of jigs, a middling will be made;
and this will go through rolls before being fed to the new
Huntington mills, the product from which will join the
fine screening from the last trommel, to proceed to cone-
classifiers and thence to Overstrom tables. Experiments
with this concentrator have given excellent results.

By these changes it is expected that the Champion will
decrease the cost of milling, and secure an increased amount
of copper, possibly equal to the present total cost of milling,
25 cents per ton. This will emphasize the observation that
during late years the endeavor to lessen costs has been
pushed at the expense of any improvement in extraction;
that is, it has not been realized that while the expenditure
entailed by the treatment of copper ore has decreased,
there has been no commensurate diminution in the amount

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 141

of copper lost. Five cents worth of copper, per ton, lost
in the tailing is worth just as much as a five-cent decrease
in milling cost. It should be added that the installation
proposed is purely experimental, but the intention is to put
a definite tonnage through a definite process; in other
words, the experiment is on a commercial scale. The de-
sign of the experimental plant is purposely made sufiiciently
flexible to permit of any modification, the necessity of which
may be indicated by the results. There is nothing revolu-
tionary in the scheme of treatment. It is simply an ap-
plication, to the special conditions in the Lake Superior
district, of methods which have been adopted in Montana
and Colorado. Whatever the outcome, it is evident that
this is a departure from precedent which is entirely justified;
it starts an investigation of current practice such as should
contribute notably to the empirical development of milling
methods in the copper regions of Michigan.

XIII. — Smelting Practice.

The treatment of ore at the mills yields a product which
consists of those various grades of metallic copper called
'mineral.' Some of the mills make as many as five classes,
removed at different stages of the dressing; these vary as
regards fineness of particles (from slime to walnut size),
and as regards purity (from 30 to 75 per cent copper).
There is also a large proportion of pieces of fragmental
copper extracted from the mortar, called 'headings.' This
is almost clean metal, containing about 95 per cent copper.
By hand-sorting at the mine, and at the mill (as the 'rock'
is fed into the stamps) there is secured a product called
'barrel work'; this ranges in size from fragments as big
as an orange to pieces as large as a man's head. Exactly
similar material sorted out at the mine, but ranging in
size from a few pounds to several tons in weight, is known
as 'mass.' The 'barrel work' and 'mass 'contain about 70
per cent copper. Thus, the material which reaches the
smelter includes copper in a great diversity of shape, purity
and degree of subdivision. On the whole, the average is
60 to 70 per cent copper, with an admixture of heavier
constituents of the lode-rock, forming a chemical complex
which is mainly aluminum siUcate together with varying
proportions of iron and lime.

Ordinary custom charges for smelting are $8 to $9 per
ton of 'mineral,' with 5 cents penalty on each unit below
70 per cent copper; the average cost of smelting is there-
fore about $7.75 per ton of refined copper; the lowest cost,
at the Quincy works, is $5.25, and at Buffalo, $5.35 per
ton.

The smelting is essentially a melting and refining of a
copper product in which the copper is in metallic form mixed
with a relatively small percentage of rock impurity. This
main operation takes place in a reverberatory; it is sup-

JCOPPER MINES. 143

plemented by the reduction of the resulting slag in a blast
furnace, yielding copper blocks which are returned to the
reverberatory furnace to be refined.

The Quincy smelting works are representative of the
practice which has prevailed during the last twenty years.
This plant is situated on the foreshore of Lake Portage, at
Hancock. To Mr. W. P. Smith, the superintendent, I am
indebted for every faciUty for observation, supplemented
by courteous explanation.

The product from the mill is discharged from the railroad
cars into a storehouse, the 'mineral' arriving in barrels
which are emptied into trucks; these pass into the furnace
building, where they are raised by an electric crane, so that
their contents drop into a hopper situated over an opening
in the roof of the furnace. The smaller 'mass' is thrown
by hand through the side door of the furnace; and when
the lumps are too big for entrance this way, they are
lowered by an electric crane through the roof-opening. In
starting a charge, a small amount of 'mineral' is spread
over the bottom; then the heavy pieces of 'mass' are
lowered carefully upon this bed. Sometimes an unusually
large mass will not permit of even this mode of entry; then
it is laid aside until, repairs to the brickwork becoming
necessary, the furnace is dismantled; this permits of the
mass being placed on the hearth while the top of the
furnace is rebuilt over it.

Each of the four reverberatory furnaces has an average
capacity of 400 tons of 'mineral' per month of 24 actual
working days. A charge of 36,000 lb. mineral is treated
every 24 hours by each furnace, the product being 26,000
lb. copper. The hearth is 12 by 18 ft. As soon as the
charge is introduced, the melt begins; after a couple of
hours the skimming of slag commences. About 15 to 16
hours are required to complete the treatment, the remaining
8 or 9 hours being consumed in poling, ladling, cleaning up
and re-charging the furnace for the next melt.

144

THE COPPER MINES

Mineral, Mass and Black

Copper ( F) averaging

70j(to80)(Ou.

-o Klch Slag ftom (D)
25j(to30j(Cu.

■^

16 hours

Reverberatory Furnace, where the copper
Is fined and refined; the operations being

1. Fusion )

2. Kemoval of slag

3. Fining or rabbling 2

4. Refining or poling 2
a. Casting 2

Charge consists of 18 tons of A with a varia-
ble ( 4 to 6J() addition of B, 1.25 tons of
limestone and 5 tons of soft coal.

■"7

((

{{

Slag.
From operations 2 and 3.

Refined copper.

Slag.
From operation 4.

Cupola or blast Aimace.
£} Charge consists of 20 tons of D, plus 8 to
9 tons limestone and 4 tons ef hard coal.

Black copper in blocks
F containing 0.5i S. from
the coal and 5$( Fe.

Slagk

Settling Car.

DIAGRAM OF OPERATIONS AT
QUINCY SMELTER.

Dump Slag
0.753<Cu.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 145

After the charge has become thoroughly melted, and the
slag has all been removed, it is 'rabbled' for 1^ to 2^ hours
to oxidize and convert into slag the impurities contained
in the copper. This ' rabbling ' is effected either by flapping
the surface of the molten copper with an iron tool called a
rabble, or by blowing into the copper a jet of steam or air.
The use of the latter is the most common. Two to four
J-in. pipes, supplied with air at 60 to 90 lb. pressure per sq.
in., are thrust into the liquid copper, resulting in an active
agitation of the whole charge, thereby constantly exposing
fresh surfaces of the metal to the oxidizing influence of the
furnace atmosphere. When this operation is complete, as
judged by the refiner from the character of a sample taken,
the surface of the charge is again skinamed clean; then
poles of wood, usually poplar, 16 to 20 ft. long, are thrust
into the copper to reduce the copper oxide formed during
the 'rabbUng' operation. This last operation is called
'poling' and requires about two hours. Not quite all of
the copper oxide is reduced; merchantable copper always
containing about 6.5 per cent CU2O.

The ladling then follows; the liquid metal being poured
either simply by hand or with mechanical aid. At one
furnace the ladle was hung on a traveler, permitting of ad-
justable leverage, and readily controlled by the workman,
so that each of two men alternately dipped a ladle holding
90 lb. copper, the dipping being finished in IJ hours; at
another furnace, on the other side of the building, I wit-
nessed the older fashion of hand-pouring with 30-lb. ladles,
three men requiring three hours to 'dip the charge.'

The slag from the reverberatories contains 12 to 18 per
cent copper; it is drawn off into pots, which go to a blast
furnace; but the richer slag, skimmed after the final poling
and containing 25 to 30 per cent copper, goes back into the
reverberatory and forms part of the succeeding charge.
The blast furnace is a cupola, 38 by 76 in., of standard type;
it is operated intermittently, as material for it accumulates.

146 THE COPPER MINES

Lime is added to flux the reverberatory slag and the ash
from the fuel consumed; the usual charge contains 20 tons
of slag, with about 40 per cent lime and 22 per cent hard
coaK The slag from the cupola contains an average of
0.6 to 0.75 per cent copper. What copper it does contain,
is half in the form of 'prills' or globules of metal, and the
remainder is disseminated unreduced copper oxide.

The copper from the ladles is poured into moulds of Vary-
ing shape, which in turn are emptied into water to cool; any
excrescences are chipped off, and the metal then goes to
the warehouse ready for shipment to the market. Four
dififerently shaped products are made: 1. Ingots and in-
got bars, each ingot weighing 20 lb., and each bar 60 to
90 lb.; these are suitable for casting and for use in brass-
making, etc. 2. Cakes, 100 lb. to 4,000 lb., as required by
customers; this material is employed chiefly for rolling into
sheet copper. 3. Wirebars, 3 to 4^ in. square and 3 to 7i
ft. long, weighing 100 to 480 lb. ; these are for manufactur-
ing wire, suitable for electric and other purposes. 4. An-
odes in plates about 2 ft. by 3 ft., IJ in. thick, weighing
250 lb., which are smelted from picked 'mineral' containing
60 to 70 oz. silver per ton; the two metals are subsequently
separated by electrolytic refining.

The first three of the copper products have a conductivity
of at least 99. The reverberatory furnaces have to be re-
paired every eight or teti weeks. The furnace roof lasts
about eight months and the fire-box roof half that time.
Several additions and improvements are being designed,
especially for the discharge and storing of 'mineral' as it
comes from the several mines which are contributory to
this smelter. In default of any systematic sampling, it is
difficult for the smelter manager to arrive accurately at the
metal contents of the material he treats. The 'mass'
copper is extremely irregular in shape, and carries a varjdng
proportion of adhering rock. Even the 'mineral,' which
comes in barrels, is difficult to average, because any single

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 147

barrel may contain several grades of product in layers by
no means parallel to each other, so that the 'tester' used
at the mills will give an inaccurate result. I watched
several barrels while they were being emptied, and noted
that they contained a mixed product thus carelessly ar-
ranged. This part of the operation merits keener atten-
tion, and will require it if the smelter is to check the work
of the mill.

On the other side of Portage lake and about three miles
west of Houghton, there is the new plant of the Michigan
Smelting Company, an enterprise organized to treat the
product of the mines on the South Range. This smelter
had just been built within the preceding twelve months,
despite the severity of the winter cold, and represented the
outcome of unusual energy and skill. Although a tempera-
ture of minus 20° F. was not uncommon during the period
of construction, and minus 10° F. was considered relatively
mild weather, the walls and foundations do not appear to
have suffered. The accompanying plan explains the
arrangement of the plant. To Mr. F. I. Cairns, the man-
ager, I am indebted for many of the details which follow.

The works are built upon a terraced slope, the copper
product from the mills being delivered by the railroad in
bottom-dump cars sufficiently tight to render the finer stuff
safe from leakage. The 'mineral' is dumped into a dryer,
a rotating cylinder slightly inclined, 72 in. diameter and
30 ft. long. This dryer is the A 9 machine of the Ruggles
Cole Engineering Company, and has a capacity of 15 tons per
hour. Drying is required in order to prevent the freezing
of the 'mineral' in the bins during winter, and also to
facilitate sampling. 'Mass' and 'barrel work' copper are
neither dried nor sampled, but are sent direct to the melting
furnace.

After sampling, the mineral goes to the bins; they are
vertical cylinders of sheet steel, 12 ft. diam. and 30 ft. high.
The design of them is borrowed from grain-elevator prac-

148 THE COPPER MINES

tice, such as is to be seen on the outskirts of Chicago. This
form of construction is best capable of taking the strain
developed by the outward pressure, which is carried by the
tensile strength of the steel plates, the high density of the
mineral rendering wooden bins of ordinary construction in-
adequate to the purpose. These bins are 10 in number
and hold 250 tons apiece. From them the mineral is taken
in bottom-dump cars along a track above the smelting
furnaces, to be discharged into the latter through hoppers.

There are three smelting furnaces, each having a hearth
18 ft. wide and 50 ft. long, with a daily capacity of 100 tons
of mineral averaging, say, 50 per cent copper. It remains
to be seen what the furnaces are capable of doing, but 150
tons is regarded as a reasonable maximum capacity. Some
iron was added at first, say, up to 6 per cent, in order to
take off the excess of alumina in the rock impurities ac-
companying the mineral. This iron was a hematite from
Crystal Falls, and was considered to insure a niore liquid
slag than if entire dependence were put on the lime present
in the 'mineral.' But this addition of iron has been found
unnecessary. Slags contain 15 per cent alumina, and
there is enough Ume in the charge to keep them hquid.
Thirty tons of mineral are fed into the furnace at a time,
the resulting metal being supplied to the 'casting' or refin-
ing furnace intermittently in charges of 50 tons.

Since writing the above it has been found advisable to
reduce the size of the melting furnaces, from 18 ft. wide
by 50 ft. long, to 16 ft. wide and 35 ft. long. In the fur-
naces as first built, the sand bottoms gave a good deal of
trouble, due principally to the great expansion of such a
large furnace. The expansion of this large copper-soaked
sand-bottom was found to be very much more than that
of a similar sized furnace smelting for copper matte. The
consequent expansion (and contraction of the furnace on
cooling) resulted in cracking and weakening the bottom;
so that, with a bath of metal of such high specific gravity

OP LAKH SUI'ERIOR.

150 THE COPPER MINES

as copper upon it, there was a great tendency tor the
bottom to float. Several bottoms suffered in this way; as a
consequence, the furnaces were reduced in size, as noted
above, and the bottoms were laid of two courses of 12-in.
siUca fire-brick in an inverted arch. Absolutely no diffi-
culties have been encountered in the operation of these
furnaces since then, and they have resulted in a marked
economy in the treatment of the 'mineral.*

The copper runs from the melting furnace to the refining
furnace, which is 5 ft. lower, along a launder 21 ft. long,
there being no trouble in keeping the metal liquid for this
distance. There are two refining furnaces, each with a
hearth 14 ft. wide and 23 ft. long, and so arranged as to
take the product of the three melting furnaces, the central
melting furnace of these tapping to either of the refining
furnaces. At present the two casting furnaces together
treat two charges per day; but this rate of operation will
be expedited when the plant gets into full working order.

The slag from all the reverberatories goes to a blast
furnace of standard design, 38 in. by 120 in. Slag is
skimmed into large cast-iron rectangular pots, 10 in. by
24 in. by 60 in., holding 1,000 lb., which are carried on
trucks and drawn by an electric locomotive to the rock-
breaker, a 15 by 30-in. Blake crusher. The pots are
emptied into the jaws of the breaker, by an overhead pneu-
matic crawl; the broken product is sampled before being
elevated to the bins above the blast furnace. The copper
from this furnace is cast into moulds, chilled, and then
transferred to the refining furnaces by electric traction
and crane. The slag from the blast furnace is granulated
in flowing water, and then run out by launder to the lake.

In the large furnace-house there is a traveling electric
crane, so that, what with the fullest use of gravity and
mechanical devices generally, there is the least possible
amount of manual labor employed in the handling of ma-
terial. The chipping of the ingots, to take off excrescences.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 161

is done by hand, though it might well be done with a
pneumatic chisel, the compressed air for which is already
available.

PLAN OF MICHIGAN SMELTER.

It will be seen from the descriptions of the two establish-
ments, one old and the other just built, that the essentials
of the smelting operations have not been changed in the
new works; these, however, exemplify the constant e£Eort
of the modern engineer to eliminate manual labor from_^all
mining and metallurgical enterprise.

XIV.— The Men Who Did It.

Nature gave the Upper Peninsula a great series of copper
lodes. Man turned them to the use of his kind. As I
would choose the region by the Lake as a type of American
mining at its best, so I would instance the character of the
men responsible for its development as representative of
that composite energy which has conquered the wilderness
of plain and forest, changing the desert to a granary and the
waste to a habitation. Whoever desires to appreciate the
causes which have brought about the great growth of these
United States can, by going to Houghton and Calumet,
observe two of their chief factors, namely, the natural re-
sources of a continent and the best blood of many races,
united in effort and competing in skill. It needs but to
sound the roll-call of inventors, engineers and business men,
who have won distinction in the copper country, to bring
out the fact that many are the peoples who have partaken
in this industrial conquest. The steam-stamp was the in-
vention of Ball, a Massachussetts mechanic; the van-
ner is to be credited to William B. Frue and his master
mechanic, WilUam Foster, of Fredonia, New York;
Frue, who was an Irishman, found the Pewabic lode
and the South Pewabic, two discoveries which became
identified with the Quincy and Atlantic mines, respectively.
August Heinback, a German, did much to develop the
application of the vanner; the jig was developed by John
CoUom, a Cornishman, whose name still clings to that device.
J. W. V. RawUns, an engineer with mechanical genius, was
an Englishman, while S. E. Cleaves, a notable character and
the first to make an iron-bodied jig, came from Maine;
Philip Scheurmann, a pioneer millman, was a German; Mr.
Bnmo V. Nordberg, the designer of many of the most im-
portant installations of machinery, is a native of Finland;
Mr. John Stanton, identified with all that is sound in mining,

COPPER MINES

154 THE COPPER MINES

was born in Somerset, England,while Mr^E. D. Leavitt, Jr.,
another engineer who has taken a notable part in the
equipment of the big mines, is of Massachusetts; and if the
roll begins as it ends with the name of a New Englander, it
serves as a suggestion of that little leaven that leaveneth
the whole lump.

Of mechanical ingenuity there has been great diversity
of origin, but underground one race of men has held — and
continues to hold — ^pre-eminence. The Cornishman is with
honor, save in his own country; there his obtuseness to the
application of modern machinery has passed into a proverb;
but outside the rock-ribbed peninsula of Cornwall, else-
where, all over the world, he has taught the rest of mankind
how to mine. The story of the Lake mines is punctuated
with the names of the 'captains' whose inherited skill has
piloted those that explore the dark mazes of the under-
world.

"By Tre, Pol- and Pen-
You may know the Comishmen" ;

and, if these prefixes are not sufficiently indicative,
you can trace them by the stories of their physical
strength and good humor. They say that after Capt.
Martin Goldswqrthy had been slanged by a dismissed work-
man, he was asked why he had not knocked the man down.
With a strong aspirate, he replied, ''That's one of the
Aonors of the position." There was Capt. WiUiam Parnall,
one of the old guard, who crossed the Atlantic when but a
boy of 18, prompted to emigrate by reason of a poaching
escapade. He served in the water-works tunnel at Wash-
ington, and became known as an expert hammersman.
After two years in the coal and iron regions of the South,
he came to Lake Superior, in 1859. From workman at the
National mine, he soon became shift-boss, and then assistant
captain. He became celebrated locally as a wrestler, par-
ticularly through a fight in which he vanquished a notor-
ious bully. This event drew him to the attention of Capt.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

156 THE COPPER MINES

John Chynoweth and other older men, who advised him to
improve his natural abihties. He used to read at night,
lying in his bunk with his miner's candle stuck in his hard
hat, and that after an exacting day's labor! From being
captain at the Franklin, in 1869, he advanced to posts of
greater importance; and in 1890 he was appointed assistant
superintendent at the Tamarack; he died, in 1903, the
chief at that mine. He was recognized as a progressive
man, wiUing always to take a sympathetic attitude toward
technical science, as is proved by the fact that two of his
sons were graduated with the first class of the Michigan
College of Mines, in 1888. Richard Uren and John Uren
were also men whom change did not stagger; they were
willing to move with the procession, sometimes to lead it.
Capt. Richard Uren, who died in 1897, possessed a good
deal of mechanical ingenuity, and busied himself with im-
proving the devices used around a mine. He, like most of
his countrymen, traveled to different districts; as superin-
tendent of the Old Abe mine in the Black Hills, he became
famihar with gold mining in South Dakota; later, he was
one of the first to open up the Wolverine; and there is no
reason to doubt that, if his ideas had been followed, the
Wolverine would have become a big mine many years be-
fore Mr. Stanton actually accomplished that feat. Capt.
John Daniell, who also died in 1897, was the originator of
the Tamarack 'deep-level'; simple though it seems today to
sink a shaft 2,300 ft., to cut the Calumet & Hecla lode, it
was a bold venture in 1884. Another good service he
did was in advising Mr. Albert S. Bigelow to interest him-
self in the Boston & Montana group, at Butte. He was a
good man underground, and had that sound judgment
which is priceless; he was the man who made the Osceola
a paying mine, when others had failed; although not a
technical man himself, he gladly availed himself of technical
science. Among the living are such worthies as Capt.
Samuel B. Harris and Capt. Johnson Vivian, who have re-

OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

158 THE COPPER MINES

tired, but live in comfort amid the scenes of their past
activity. Capt. James Chynoweth is one of the survivors
of this notable group, and has charge of the Centennial,
Allouez and other mines. Captains John Dennis of the
Adventure, Joshua Hooper of the Victoria, Richard Ed-
wards of the Isle Royale, and Thos. Hosking of the Frank-
lin, have also done credit to 'the old county.'

It is a notable fact that, in the first class sent out from
the Michigan College of Mines, there were five sons of
Cornish mine captains, out of the seven who were graduated.
The day of the Cornish mine captain is vanishing; his place
is being taken by sons who are native Americans; but these,
despite their better education, lack the distinctive character
of their forefathers, losing some quaUties and gaining others
better suited to their environment. Nevertheless, even
today, when technically educated men — ^American, what-
ever their fathers were — direct the operations of the mines,
I found the underground work in charge of a Cornishman,
in every instance. Shoved aside at surface in the march of
scientific progress, he holds his own underground, simply
because he knows better than anyone how to break rock,
how to timber bad ground, and how to make the other
fellow shovel it, tram it and hoist it. At the Atlantic I
heard a story on Capt. Vivian, which that worthy gentle-
man will forgive me for quoting. A friend of his told it
thus: "Cap'n Vivian took hold of the Franklin when she
was dead to the world, and she just scraped along for a
while. He was talking to the agents up at Calumet one
day — ^they had a kind of party and were gassing a bit; he
told them the Calumet could run herself, she was rich
enough not to need much bossing. 'A good bal makes a
good cap'n,' said he. They didn't get much of a joke on
the old man; he left them chewing." It is true enough;
there is the chairman, there is the general manager, the
accountant, the engineer, the assayer, the manager — and
it is the boss underground that makes the mine. But it

OF LAKE SUPERIOR 159

takes the other people to turn the ore when mined into
money; and here is where the Cousin Jack has too often
failed to equip himself. There is the miner's strength and
skill in the Cornishman's arm; he is the hamanersman of the
world — ^I mean underground, not among the artificial con-
ditions of a farcical drilling contest — ^but he lacks the ability
to keep his eye on the main thing, the dividend. Hence,
many of them are good shift-bosses, but poor general
managers. At Houghton they tell the story of the easy-
going captain who used to visit a certain mine at regular
intervals. Driving up to the office he would call for the
man in charge of the work, and say," Good mornin', Cap'n;
how is that drift going north from No. 3 shaft (or any old
shaft)?" To which would come the answer, "She's lookin'
keenly, Cap'n. There's a lot of copper in 'er." "What the
blooming 'ell is the use of copper down there? Send 'er up,
send 'er up." A crack of the whip and he was on the way
back to town. Of course, I do not mean by this that the
Cornishmen, as managers, had no sense of duty; but they
did lack that nose-to-the-grindstone strenuous application
which makes the modern American ruminate mining and
machinery, while Englishmen are playing cricket or golf,
and Germans are drinking beer or singing college songs.
They are all part of life — ^the song, the play and the work;
but, assuredly, to win that share of money and position
which constitutes success, it is necessary to play the man,
and strong in will "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to
yield."

XV. A Last Glance.

My story is almost at an end. It has necessarily been
too short to do justice to so wide a subject; but it will, I
hope, convey to those who have never been to these splen-
did mines, some idea of their method of exploitation, their
geological conditions and the treatment of their output.
Before leaving Houghton, I will ask you to go with me to
the top of one of the Quincy shaft-houses and take a general
view of the country as it appears from that point of vantage.
There will be Lake Superior men in Mexico, Africa or Aus-
tralia, to whom the description will convey some of the
warmth of auld lang syne.

It was a fine, clear morning; the west wind had blown
away the mists, and while I regarded the widespread scene,
as from a mountain top, it seemed good to be there. Look-
ing due south over the multiplicity of trestles and tracks
leading from the shaft-house, Quincy hill slopes steeply to
the narrow arm of Portage lake; on the near side, just
showing, are the roofs of Hancock; and across the water the
straight streets of Houghton radiate in perspective from the
quiet woodlands.

Over the bridge that unites the twin towns of Houghton
and Hancock, the trolley cars are passing; while under-
neath, over a lower track, a Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic
train is backing. Houghton stretches out thin along the
water front; behind the two or three blocks of houses the
streets become country roads, winding through clearings
that are diversified by dark patches of forest. Beyond
these again the rolling plateau holds the village that sur-
rounds the Isle Royale mine with its two prominent shaft-
houses, between which three rows of workmen's houses
appear like orderly beehives; and in the distant background
successive depths of forest fade into the faint blue of the
Huron mountains.

Nearer to hand, and to the right, is the sheen of water

COPPER AflKES

162 THE COPPER MINES

marking a dam belonging to the Isle Royale mine, and
swinging thence southwestward, along the line of the
Quincy shaft-houses, the eye follows the general strike of
the mineral belt as it is indicated by a succession of busy
mines. About two miles south of the lake the red roofs of
the Atlantic appear amid the green woods, and the smoke
of that celebrated mine is thrown to the wind; behind it the
country rises to Wheal Kate, a hill the name of which
instantly brings Cornish associations. On the nearer side of
this hill, but eastward, the smoke-stack and some of the
buildings of the Baltic mine can be discerned, and on the
wooded slopes below, two shaft-houses stand out against
the trees. The nieghboring mines, the Champion and Tri-
mountain, are only suggested by wreaths of smoke, for they
are buried amid the bush that bounds the horizon.

Coming back to the foreground, but moving westward
again, a grove of maples hides the valley of the Lake Arm,
and almost eclipses the new Michigan smelter, whose thin
smoke rises wind-blown on the further side. The country
south and west, in this part of the picture, is checkered with
cultivated squares, marking the industry of the Finns, whose
farmhouses are many of them still unpainted and bespeak
the newness of the agricultural development of this part of
Michigan. Behind these fields of grain comes a fringe of
woodland, indicating the descent to the main waters of
Lake Superior, the southern edge of which is blurred by
separate wreaths of smoke rising from the stamp-mills at
Freda, where the Champion, Trimountain, Baltic, Adven-
ture and Atlantic companies treat their ore.

The Portage Arm can be followed by the dip in the con-
tour of the land, although the water itself cannot be seen;
and, as the indent in the land is followed, it takes the eye
westward to the alpine azure of the great lake — Lake
Superior — ^whose far horizon is faintly broken by the mass
of Isle Royale, sixty miles away, crowned by splendid
cumuli which dissolve themselves in sunlit skies.

OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 163

Following the Lake from west to north until the land
rises against the watery horizon, there come into the fore-
ground the streets of the village of Quincy, with the chim-
neys, dumps, and rock-houses of the old Pewabic, Franklin
and Mesnard mines. Northeastward there intervenes a
ten-mile stretch of bush known to contain several mines
none of which are visible except the Franklin, Jr. On the
sky-line a cluster of chimneys indicates the great Calumet ,

& Hecla; to the right is the Osceola, and to the left the tall
stacks of the Red Jacket and the Tamarack, the deepest
metal mines in the world, starting 600 ft. above the lake,
itself 600 ft. above the sea, and penetrating nearly 4,000 ft.
below the sea. Behind the bristhng points of this group of
black chimneys, the far end of the Keweenaw peninsula can
almost be seen. Dark hills, far to the north, indicate the
Cliff, where mining began in this region, and to the east of
them the conical shape of Mt. Bohemia rises like a lone
volcano.

Swinging eastward, the near view — and there is no other
— ^is composed of a bare plateau broken by long rows of
dwelling-houses, with the ill-fated Arcadian shaft-house
silhouetted against the sky. Turning further to the right,
and eastward, the entering wedge of Lake Superior again
comes into the picture, and can be followed until it leads to
Keweenaw bay. At our feet Quincy hill slopes to Portage
Arm, and on the further shore the environs of Houghton
end in a group of red-roofed buildings which mark the
College of Mines. Here the Portage Arm widens into
Portage lake, whose sinuous lines, leading to Keweenaw bay,
are dotted with several steamers. On the shore of this bay
is L'Anse, where dwell in tame subjection the Chippewas, the
Indian tribe whose forefathers held sway over this goodly
heritage of forest and stream. That smudge yonder by
Keweenaw bay, is not a red hunter's camp fire, but rises
from the tall stack of the Mass stamp-mill. Behind it is
the level ridge of the Huron mountains, stretching north-

164 COPPER MINES.

ward until fchey cleave Lake Superior with rocky prom-
ontory.

Nearer to us the smoke of the smelter at Dollar Bay, and
that rising from the milla at Torch Lake, are thrown
agmnst a background of the flat woodland, rimmed by the
blue waters of the great lake. These stretch eastward to a
skyline broken by a wreath of smoke that follows in the
wake of an unseen vessel, which carries with it all the wide
suggestions of maritime commerce and swift communica-
tion with that great world of activity which b beyond our
view. And so we pass from the Copper mines of Lake
Superior to other scenes.

4 GLIMPSE OF LAKE SITPERIOR.

ORE DRESSING

By ROBERT H. RICHARDS

This magnificent contribution to metallurgical literature is
now ready, after many years of careful preparation by the author,
who is one of the ablest experts on the question. In this ex-
cellent treatise- the ore dressing theory is thoroughly developed,
and an inexhaustible mine of useful facts and practical experi-
ments is brought forth that virtually outrivals any other work
6ver before issued on any branch of mechanical and metallurgical
engineering. The unswerving aim of the author has been to elu-
cidate to the working student modern American practice, referring
for comparison to European, and to so expound the principles
of the art as at present understood as to make adva^nce easy in
the future. The plan of the book is essentially practical, and is
divided into four main parts, viz.: Crushing, Separating, Con-
centrating and Washing, Accessory Apparatus and Mill Process,
and Management. The numerous subdivisions include elaborate
chapters on Gravity Stamps, Screen Sizing and its Principles,
Classifiers, Hand Picking, Jigs and Laws of Jigging, Slime Con-
centration and Amalgamation.

This superb work is beyond all doubt or question a veritable
masterpiece of technical literature, and should occupy a promi-
nent place in every industrial library. Mining, metallurgical and
mechanical engineers cannot afford to be without it, as it is
specifically the kind of literature the profession nowadays demand
as an infallible guide to practical work.

Chapter I. — General Principles.
Part I. — Breaking, Crushing and

Comminuting:
Chapter II. — Preliminary Crushing.
Chapter III. — Rolls.
Chapter IV. — Steam, Pneumatic and

Spring Stamps.
Chapter v. — Gravity Stamps.
Chapter VI. — Pulverizers other than

Gravity Stamps.
Chapter VI I. — Laws of Crushing.
Part II. — Separating, Concentrating

or Washing:
Chapter VIII. — Preliminary Washers.
Chapter IX. — Sizing Screens.
Chapter X. — Principles of Screen

Sizing.
Chapter XI. — Classifiers.
Chapter XII. — Laws of Classifying by

Free Settling in Water.

Chapter XIl'I.— Hand Picking.

Chapter XIV.— Jigs.

Chapter XV. — Laws of Jigging.,

Chapter XVI. — Fine Sand and Slime
Concentrators.

Chapter XVII. — ^Amalgamation.

Chapter XVIII. — Miscellaneous Pro-
cess of Separation.

Part III. — Accessory Apparatus:

Chapter XIX. — Accessory Apparatus.
Part IV. — Mill Processes and Man-
agement :

Chapter XX. — Summarv of Princi-
ples and Outlines of Mills.

Chapter XXI. — General Ideas on
Milling.

Appendix, Tables and Other Useful
Information. Index.

Two Volumes. Octavo, Cloth. t250 Pages, profusely illustrated.

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